


Loneliness in Difference

by Venn_KaiAgram



Series: A House For One [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, Death, Fluff, Gen, Humor, Hurt, Hurt/Comfort, Major Original Character(s), Pain, Stereotypes, after the cursed child, cheesy as all get out, even slower burn, intensified burn, major character deaths?, slowest burn ever, tortureyish, various original characters - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-14
Updated: 2017-02-05
Packaged: 2018-08-30 21:20:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 19
Words: 49,341
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8549509
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Venn_KaiAgram/pseuds/Venn_KaiAgram
Summary: Did you ever think that Slytherin is more than just the house he-who-must-not-be-named came from? Did you ever think that they aren't evil? Adelaide is a second year Slytherin who is sick and tired of everyone hating her house because Lord Voldemort came from Slytherin. She's trying to change what people think of Slytherins by saying not all Slytherins are bad, but it doesn't help that her the rest of her family is exactly what people expect of Slytherins. Everything seems lost until the one person she'd never expect to, offers help... At some point in the future there may be a major character death (I think). If you don't like that sort of thing you have been warned.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> You've been warned there is going to be a major character death. If you don't like those things you probably don't want to read this.

Tension was lingering in the air. The tables around them were full with other students and all the first years were shifting their feet nervously as they were called up one at a time.  
  
She needed to be brave and remember to breath when she got up there.  


“Adelaide Fions?” The Professor called. The Professor paused. “Adelaide Fions!”

Adelaide's eyes flew up to where the professor was standing. They were patiently waiting for her with the sorting hat. Adelaide rushed to the stairs barely able to not trip over her robes. This was it. This was her judgement. This was her one chance to prove herself and she knew it. Her heart began to beat more violently in her chest as she sat on the stool. Her dark blue eyes travelled to her two older brothers who were staring at her from the Slytherin table with sneers. In that moment she began to doubt everything.

Was this really what she wanted? Did she truly belong in Slytherin? Did she want to be in Slytherin or was it just what was expected of her? Deep down she knew the answer but she didn’t want to admit it. She wasn't strong enough to face her family, not yet.

They placed the hat on top of her messy, long black hair and there was silence, everything was quiet and everyone's eyes stared up at her. There was another long pause, too long. Nothing happened the hat sat on her head with no words, no concerns, it didn't even seem to breath.

“Well this is a predicament,” The hat whispered finally. “You belong in every house. Each part of you is brave, kind, wise, and cunning. There is no way to sort you into a house, and I don’t believe you have decided which house you’d like to be in."

“Slytherin,” Adelaide whispered.

“Are you sure?” The hat asked. “There’s no going back from this decision.”

“I have to be in Slytherin,” She said. Her voice started to crack.

“You remind me of a boy a sorted once several years ago,” The hat said. “Only he said, “anything but Slytherin”. I told him he could do great things in Slytherin, yet he repeated himself. I called out Gryffindor, and I thought he was a fool, giving up a chance to be great. Yet he proved me wrong. I believe you could be great in Gryffindor, but see if you can prove me wrong as well. SLYTHERIN!”

The Slytherin table cheered but none of the professors made any moment to clap. The hat was lifted off of Adelaide’s head, she climbed down the steps, and over to the Slytherin table.

She sat down and glanced around nervously. Why hadn’t they clapped? Didn’t anyone care about Slytherin? Gryffindor and Ravenclaw clapped for Hufflepuff, Hufflepuff and Gryffindor clapped for Ravenclaw, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff clapped for Gryffindor, and the professors clapped for all three, so why hadn't anyone but the Slytherins themselves clapped for Slytherin. She wanted them to climb to their feet and ask for forgiveness. She paused.

Was it their fault they felt this way? In the stories she had heard from when the Dark Lord had attacked Hogwarts, apparently none of the Slytherin pitched in to help. That was at least what Adelaide had been told. Not only that but she knew most of death eaters had come from Slytherin so they just expected each Slytherin to be the same like some robots. It wasn't their fault, but she would change what they thought. She promised herself she would change this, even if changing the way around two thousand wizards and witches of various ages would not be an easy task, she was willing to try.


	2. You're a Slytherin?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is the first part of a two part chapter, thus why the next chapter has the same name.

“Miss Adelaide Fions!” The professor yelled. Adelaide shot straight up in her seat, and quickly met the professor's eyes. Professor Yail had her long brown hair in a pony, hazel eyes, and olive skin.  
“Sorry Professor Yail,” Adelaide said quickly. She glanced around the room to find the other students staring at her with a mix of concern and pity in their eyes.  
Adelaide was in potions, one of her least favorite classes. The floor and walls of the classroom were made of stone, there was one door leading out of the room that was metal, and the whole room smelled like rotten cheese. The desks were set up like Quidditch stadium seats, and the professor's desk was down in the middle of the room. To Adelaide this classroom felt like a prison, where the teacher was the interrogator and the students were the criminals.  
“Another late night I presume, Miss Fions.” Professor Yail said.  
“I’m really sorry professor,” Adelaide said, “I’ll try my hardest not to fall asleep again, it’s just that-,”  
“Let me guess, you stayed up late last night studying again?” Professor Yail asked. Adelaide nodded. “Honestly Miss Fions with the amount of times you, “stay up late studying”, someone like myself would assume you know everything a text book has to offer, or that you sneaking out of your dorm.”  
“I’m not ma’am,” Adelaide said.  
“For your sake I hope you’re telling the truth,” Professor Yail said. “I’ll be informing your mother about how many times you’ve fallen asleep in class to see if there’s anything I can help you do differently, and twenty-five points will be removed from Slytherin.”  
“Thanks Adelaide,” a Slyther said sarcastically from behind her.  
Professor Yail walked back to her desk. Adelaide leaned back in her chair. “Your welcome,” She said quickly before leaning forward again.  
Adelaide stared at the clock that hung over the door, counting down each second until freedom. She knew she’d regret not listening to the Professor, but this was her last class before the last weekend of fall, and she couldn’t wait to get to the library, speed through her homework, and then be able to do whatever she wanted over the weekend without having to worry about deadlines.  
The bell went off and in unison everyone got up, packed their bags, and rushed for the door. Professor Yail called after them saying, “Don’t forget you essay is due Monday and-,” Adelaide didn’t hear the rest of what the professor was saying, and she didn’t care. 

 

…

 

It was Saturday night and Adelaide was under her covers, waiting. Her wand was lit with a Lumos spell and she was staring at a pocket watch. The time read 11:59 P.M. Just one more minute, she thought. The time changed to midnight.  
“Nox,” she said. Her light went out, she grabbed two of her sweatshirt and ran out of her bedroom. She climbed out of her common room and started to sneak up from the dungeon. She quietly climbed up the stairs and came to a sudden halt when she heard voices one of them was very familiar. She slipped on her sweatshirt, pulled up the hood, and peaked around the corner.  
She saw Professor Yail, speaking with Headmistress McGonagall.  
“I promise you she’s sneaking out of her dorm headmistress,” Professor Yail said. “Why else would she be so tired in class repeatedly?”  
“Perhaps, she’s studying late because she has difficulty remembering the lessons from her classes,” Headmistress McGonagall said. “Or she’s simply tired from the long day she’s had and she knows that won’t be enough to convince you not to give her detention.”  
Adelaide began to try to sneak past them. Her heart started racing faster and faster.  
“Please trust me headmistress.” Professor Yail said.  
“How about I talk to Miss Fions tomorrow, will that satisfy you?” Headmistress McGonagall asked.  
“That will have to do,” Professor Yail said.  
Crap, Adelaide thought, I’m going to need to think of a different excuse that the headmistress will believe. That’s a problem for later, however, for now focus on the task at hand.  
Adelaide got past them and slowly began to back away from them when the Headmistress suddenly turned and looked straight at Adelaide. She covered her mouth to stop any noise made from her breathing.  
“Is something wrong?” Professor Yail asked.  
“No,” Headmistress McGonagall said, “It was just my imagination.” She looked away and Adelaide continued to slowly back away. She didn’t dare let go of her mouth until she was successfully around the next corner. After that she began to sprint as silently as she could through the halls and towards the girls bathroom.  
Her thought was in order to change what people thought about Slytherin she had to learn as much as she could about how they got there, and the people who put them in their position. So far she had looked into Salazar Slytherin, and she was looking into he-who-must-not-be-named at the moment. Tonight she was going to try to sneak into the chamber of secrets, which wasn’t going to be easy considering how much noise opening the chamber would make, she figured not being really good at Parseltongue would be a problem too.  
She weave through the different passages and went up a stairwell. She was almost there when she heard two people whispering. To Adelaide’s surprise she saw a Gryffindor boy and a Ravenclaw girl in the hallway and they seemed to be arguing.  
“I thought you said you knew where you were going.” The Ravenclaw girl said as loudly as she could without risking discovery.  
“I did,” The Gryffindor boy said. “But I just got a little turned around is all.” The girl groaned. “Hey it’ll be fine who doesn’t like a little adventure?”  
“Any one who’s not a Gryffindor,” the girl said, “like me.”  
“Who’s there?” A gruff voice asked. Adelaide saw Filch start to move towards them.  
“Crap,” The boy said, “Run.” He said to the girl. Both of them took off in different direction, the Ravenclaw girl went away from Adelaide and the Gryffindor boy, straight for her. Filch quickly decided to pursue the Gryffindor boy and began to move towards Adelaide as well.  
This is bad, Adelaide thought, this is really, really, really bad. The boy began to run past her, but quickly as if she had rehearsed this a thousand times, she reached out, grabbed him, and pulled him into the corridor she was in.  
“Don’t argue if you want to make it out of this,” Adelaide said quickly. She threw him her other sweat shirt. “Quick put this on, and pull up the hood.” He did as she told him and suddenly he gasped.  
“You’re right in front of me?” He asked. “How come I couldn’t see you before?”  
“I’ll explain later,” Adelaide said, “Now be quiet!”  
Filch ran up to the hallway and turned to face them. He stared straight at them and with a puzzled look ran down the hallway he was already in.  
Adelaide grabbed the boy's wrist and bolted in the opposite direction. They ran through the hallways, down and up stair cases, not daring to look behind them or to stop, until they finally reached the girls bathroom. Adelaide and this boy dropped onto the marble floors breathing heavily.  
The bathroom had around seven stalls and the sinks were place in a circle around a pillar. This was one of the only rooms where the walls were tile instead of stone and the floors were marble. Adelaide got up while the boy kept lying on the floor, she walked over to one of the sinks and turned the handle. Water ran out of the faucet. She moved onto the next one and the same thing happened.  
“What are you looking for?” The boy asked.  
She turned the handle of the last sink and nothing happened. She checked the side of the faucet and saw a Slytherin mark.  
“The rumors were true,” Adelaide said. “This is the entrance to the chamber of secrets.”  
“You mean the chamber Salazar Slytherin created?” He asked.  
“That would be the one,” She said.  
“Okay different topic,” He said. “What are these sweatshirts? Filch looked straight at us and he didn't even notice us standing right there! It worked almost like some kind of invisibility cloak.”  
“That’s because they practically are,” Adelaide said, “However there not even close to the real deal. I have to keep re-enchanting them after I’ve used them for one hundred, sixty-eight hours. That’s one week. But they have to be in use for that long. So I wouldn’t keep you hood on for too long, when you pull on the hood the enchantment is triggered.”  
“Wait,” He said, “let me get this straight, by re-enchant, you mean you bring it to a shop right?”  
“Whatever floats your goat,” She said. “Take off your hood so you stop wasting the enchantment.”  
“Oh right sorry,” He said. He got off the floor and pulled down the hood. He seemed to be around five and a half feet, he had short and messy dirty blonde hair, sky blue eyes, and pale skin. He was wearing his robes, and some nice tennis shoes. “Wow I really have no idea where you are right now.” He held out his hand. “I’m Luke Veiltick, a second year, how about you?”  
Adelaide grabbed his hand and took down her hood, revealing her long black hair, dark brown eyes, and pale skin. “I’m Adelaide Fions,” She said. “I’m pretty sure you know me as “the sleeper” in potions.”  
“You’re a Slytherin?” Luke asked in astonishment.  
“Yeah, and?” Adelaide asked.  
“I can’t believe a Slytherin saved me,” He said disgustedly.  
“Oh so the fact that I’m a Slytherin means I can’t save your worthless ass?” She asked.  
“Well yeah because I don’t want to owe you anything,” He said.  
“Who said you owed me anything?”  
“Um, the fact that you're a Slytherin did.”  
“Fine, if you owe me something give me your potions essay.”  
“I already put my name on it.”  
“I’ll just copy it, then give it back to you sometime tomorrow or before potions monday.”  
“How do you even know were in the same potions hour?”  
“Because you literally sit two seats to the left of me!”  
Luke opened his mouth to retaliate, but quickly realized he couldn’t win and said, “Fine, if I can wear this sweatshirt to the Gryffindor common room I’ll get my essay for you.”  
Adelaide agreed and they went to Gryffindor tower. When Luke said the password Adelaide plugged her ears so she wouldn’t be tempted to try to sneak in. The portrait swung open revealing the entrance, Luke climbed through and came back out shortly after holding the paper.  
He handed her the paper and her sweatshirt. Adelaide grabbed both of them, turned on her heel, and stormed away from him in a bad mood.  
She could not believe he had thought she was going to ask him for something just because she had been nice helped him. Adelaide knew buying into what he thought she would do wasn’t the best choice if she wanted to change anything, but she really didn’t want to write a potions essay. She thought if she gave it back to him that would prove that she’s trustworthy.  
She made her way back to the dungeon and into the Slytherin common room. She quickly tucked away her two sweatshirts and the essay deep inside her suitcase, climbed into her bed, and fell asleep.


	3. Your a Slytherin?

Luke was walking around Hogwarts field on a hot, bright, and sunny Sunday. Every single student seemed to be outside enjoying some of the last bright rays of summer, which made Luke’s goal even harder. He was looking for one person inparticular, one person with long black hair, blue eyes, pale skin, and the holder of his potions essay, Adelaide.  
Luke looked from Slytherin to Slytherin trying to spot anyone who looked like her, but it seemed like every girl with black hair had decided to sit outside today. It was like looking for a needle in a haystack, only this particular needle could turn invisible.  
He was about to go back inside when he saw a man with short black hair, blue eyes, and pale skin. He looked about Adelaide’s size, he didn’t look super muscular but you could definitely tell he worked out. He was asking his fellow Slytherin’s something and looked very confused. The Slytherin’s he was talking to shook their heads and the man sighed. He glanced over at Luke and they made eye contact. The man’s eyes narrowed and Luke couldn’t help but feel like this guy might be the key to finding Adelaide.  
“Do you need something?” The man asked after he had walked over to Luke.  
Luke thought about asking about Adelaide, but quickly cut the idea from his train of thought, there was no way he was going to toss away his pride and ask a Slytherin.  
“Nothing from you,” Luke said disgustedly.  
“Excuse me?” The man said. “I don’t appreciate you talking down to me, I am your superior.”  
“Since when?” Luke asked.  
“Since I haven’t sullied my blood with that of a muggle,” He said. Luke’s blood began to boil.  
“Are you talking to one of the lower life forms, Nit?” Another man said, as he appeared next to the guy who was referred to as Nit.  
“Sorry Dax,” Nit said. Dax was taller than Nit and very chiseled, Luke guessed that he could be pummeled by Dax in a matter of seconds. Dax had short black hair that was slicked back, chestnut brown eyes, pale skin, and a sly smile that got on Luke’s nerves. “The peasant seemed content in making conversation so I thought I could spare a few measly scraps of time.” Luke gritted his teeth.  
Dax whistled loudly. “Wow! That was a lot of words, that made an epic burn,” Dax said. “See that’s why I like you so much, you know how to use big words.”  
“That’s a skill you’re in need of,” Nit said.  
“Shut your mouth,” Dax said, and his eyes narrowed, Nit looked at the ground and mumbled an apology.  
“Wait you’re called Nit?” Luke asked with a grin on his face.  
“That’s Nitesh Fions to you,” Nit said.  
Luke’s smile faded. “Your related to Adelaide?” He asked.  
Nit glanced at Dax and Dax nodded as if to give his approval. “What do you know about Adelaide.”  
Luke pondered this question for a moment to try and figure out what he was going to tell them, since he didn’t want to admit he was outside of his dorm past hours.  
“She somehow was able to sneak into our common room and steal my potions essay,” Luke finally said.  
“That’s Adelaide for you,” Nit mumbled, and Luke was left to wonder what he meant by that. “Do you know where Adelaide is at the moment?”  
“No,” Luke said, “I was kind of hoping you did.”  
“Shame,” Nit said, “I was hoping you Gryffindor scum could be useful for once, I guess that I was wrong.”  
Nit glanced at Dax again and Dax turned on his heel and left with Nit following closely behind. Luke seethed with anger. He was more disappointed that the one lead he had, had all day had turned out to lead to nowhere than angry, however. Luke began to walk through the fields again.  
He looked every where, from where the whomping willow used to stand, to the court yard, and to the pumpkin patches, yet he could not find her anywhere. Finally he decided to look in the quidditch arena. There was no one there practicing, Gryffindor had the field rented for later that day, he knew since he was one of the chasers for their team. After Gryffindor the next team was Hufflepuff, and then Ravenclaw, and then Slytherin. Gryffindor’s practice wasn’t until three-thirty however and he had hoped to find her by then.  
He looked in all the changing room, and in each stand, but couldn’t find her. He walked down to the center of the field and groaned loudly. He was about to leave when he felt a hand rest on his shoulder.  
He spun around to find Adelaide standing there with one of her sweatshirts on, and the hood pulled down.  
“Fancy meeting you here,” She said with a hint of sarcasm. “What do want?”  
“Are you done with my potions essay yet?” Luke asked.  
“That depends on who’s potions essay your talking about,” She said, Luke raised an eyebrow. “The top of the page says Cecillia Amari, and somehow I seriously doubt that’s your name.”  
“All right, fine, you caught me,” Luke said, “That’s the Ravenclaw girl’s you saw hanging out with me last night. I stole it from her, I was planning to give it back today since I know she know’s I swiped it.”  
“Wow, how low will you go?” Adelaide said.  
“It’s better than you Slytherins,” He said with disgust, “At least I’ll give it back.”  
“EXCUSE ME?” Adelaide yelled. “Last time I check your not the one who promised to give it back by potions tomorrow at the latest! If you think that us Slytherins don’t ever give the things we BORROW back lets see how your little friend likes it when you don’t give it back, since I was about to come find you, but now I don’t feel like it.” Adelaide pushed past him and pulled up her hood.  
“Adelaide-” He called after her, but knew she was gone. In that brief encounter he had found out two things, number one Cecillia was going to murder him tomorrow, and two talking to Adelaide was like talking to a bomb, you never know what’s going to set it off. “Is it a crime that I just want a FREAKING POTIONS ESSAY!” He yelled.  
Luke looked at where Adelaide had been standing only moments before, he was pretty certain she wasn’t there anymore. His eyes dropped to the ground. Who is she?, he thought, Who is her family? Those two who seemed to be her brothers weren’t anything like her, sure she blew up, but she doesn’t pretend to be above everyone she just gets pissed easily. He looked up into the sky. And why do I feel like she’s hiding some sadness behind her smile?.

 

…

 

Luke was walking to potions the next day dreading the huge lecture in store for him from both the potions professor and Cecillia.  
“Are you sure you don’t want me to give you my essay?” Jakob asked. Jakob was a tall and skinny second year Hufflepuff, with short light brown hair, striking electric blue eyes, and pale skin.   
“No it’s fine,” Luke said, “You’re not the one who got mixed up with a stupid...Slytherin?” Luke saw Adelaide standing by the door leading into the potions classroom. She shoved two pieces of paper into his hands and strode into the room without a word.  
He glanced down to find two essays in his hands. One that said Cecillia Amari in the top corner, and the other that said, Luke Veiltick. She had copied down Cecillia’s essay for not only herself, but for Luke as well since he didn’t get any time to.  
Luke entered potions and took his seat. Professor Yail began her lecture and Luke glanced to the side to see Adelaide taking notes. He couldn’t help but wonder why, why had a Slytherin helped him twice now and both times had, had no intention of getting anything in return?


	4. Halloween Gets Fired

Halloween, one of the many holidays Adelaide was not able to have fun at. It’s not that she didn’t have fun, more of she couldn’t. Her mother never let her celebrate any of the holidays saying that they, weren’t pure enough or you’re a strong witch you don’t need any of these false celebrations. Last year she received a letter from her mother reminding her of that fact, and this year was no different.

One week before Halloween an owl flew into the dining hall and dropped a letter on her plate. The front of the envelope read,  _ To Adelaide Fions, _ in big golden letters. The back was sealed with her, all to familiar, family crest. The crest was two snakes with wings facing each other and a lion laid on the ground, dead, between them. It was a very fitting image for her family. She quickly opened the letter and began to read,

 

_ Dear Adelaide, _

_ It has come to my attention that the impure holidays are approaching. I’m writing to you to remind not to take part in these silly celebrations. You are of noble blood after all and your time should be spent practicing your magic. If by any chance you get caught up in one of these and are unsure as to how to remove yourself from that predicament, I believe Petrificus Totalus should do the trick. _

_ Sincerely,  Emera Fions. _

 

Adelaide didn’t know what to think. Did her mother seriously think she was going to petrify her classmates? Adelaide sighed, she climbed out of her seat, and left the great hall.

Today was the night of halloween and Adelaide was walking around aimlessly through each of the hallways. People were running upstairs, and from one room to the next, half dressed in their costumes. Last year she was fine with not taking part, but this year she couldn’t help, but feel empty, like she was missing out on something important, but she didn’t know how she was supposed to be part when her mother would never allow it. Many people would tell her to take part anyway, but no one at Hogwarts truly knew her mother or what she would do to Adelaide if she was caught.

Awful memories appeared in her mind and a chill ran through Adelaide’s spine. She headed to her dormitory and laid in bed, staring up at the ceiling. She felt, something she’d never felt before...she felt lonely. She was used to being alone at Hogwarts, so why did she feel lonely now?

She rolled onto her side and an image of Luke appeared in her head. Why am I thinking of him at a time like this?, she thought. It’s not like he’d be able to do anything, and besides we’re not even friends. Do I really believe he ever would want to be friends with a girl like me?.

She silently laughed, closed her eyes, and slowly drifted off to sleep

 

Adelaide’s eyes shot open. Her was vision blurry. She squeezed her hands and tried to move her arms only to find them tied behind her back. Not only her hands were tied but her legs as well. They were tied by a basic rope and knot, and she knew a simple spell could break the rope, there was only one problem though, her wand was missing. She was slowly able to push herself into a sitting position.

Her vision cleared and she found herself in what looked like a closet with a few supplies. There were no windows and only one door leading out that was most likely locked. There was a shelf that had an empty bucket, a few paint brushes and on the very top there was a knife. She knew she couldn't reach it but whoever had done this probably wanted them to struggle trying to. There was also one cupboard across the room that would take a little bit to get to while tied up.

In front of her was another girl. She was dressed like Rowena Ravenclaw, with an obviously handmade helm. The girl slowly woke up and her eyes met with Adelaide’s. This girl had long, thick, dark brown hair, stormy grey eyes, and pale skin. She looked a few inches taller than Adelaide, and she definitely cared about looking good since her makeup didn’t have a single flaw. Her dress had short sleeves, and a long skirt. The dress was dark blue with white beads sewn in wavy patterns.

“Hey,” Adelaide said.

The girl screamed and tried to back up but didn’t really succeed with her limbs being tied.

“Why did you put us in here?” The girl asked.

“Why did I-” Adelaide glared at the girl, “I’m tied up too moron!”

“Oh, obviously, my mistake,” The girl said, “Since we’re both in this fix perhaps introductions are in order, I’m Cecillia Amari, what’s your name.”

“I don't believe introductions are quite in order yet since we are still tied up,” Adelaide said. Isn’t she the girl who hangs out with Luke?, Adelaide thought. Because then I definitely don’t want to tell her who I am incase she’s heard about me from Luke. “Turn around.”

Cecillia did what she was told. Adelaide turned around as well and started working on Cecillia’s knot. After a little bit Cecillia’s arms were untied. Cecillia untied Adelaide's arms and then untied their feet.

Adelaide got up and went straight for the door. As she had suspected it was locked, but it was locked with magic so she would need her wand to open it, typical. She walked over to the closet and found a lock hanging from the handles.

“Do you have a bobby pin you’d be willing to part with?” Adelaide asked.

“I think so,” Cecillia said. She removed a bobby pin from her hair and handed it to Adelaide.

Adelaide got to work slowly reshaping it to look like an L. Adelaide stuck it in the the lock and began to move it back and forth until, Click! The lock fell to the ground and Adelaide swung the doors open. Inside was a pile of thick, red sticks that had  **Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes** written on them. Adelaide hated that shop. She had been pranked several times from the items people have been able to smuggle into Hogwarts.

Pop! One of the sticks exploded and lit a spot of the wardrobe on fire, then the next went off and then the next until all of them had gone of and the wardrobe was encased in flame. Adelaide was able to tell this wasn’t ordinary fire, it was hot enough to melt stone meaning given time it could destroy the castle. From how fast the fire was spreading Adelaide thought they had two minutes at most, before they were also encased in flame.

“We need an Aguamenti charm,” Cecillia said.

“Thank you for your spectacular insight,” Adelaide said sarcastically. “Would you mind telling me how we're going to pull that off without a wand?” Cecillia shrugged. “This isn’t something to shrug off. By the look of it this big and strong of a fire, it will take less than ten minutes to melt this room and the one above us. Meaning depending on which room we’re under a lot of people could die!”

“Then what are we going to do?” Cecillia asked.

Adelaide turned to the door and ran at it full force. Bam! Adelaide stumbled back and ran at it again and again, but it was no use, it didn’t budge and Adelaide was pretty sure it wasn’t planning to, and she seriously doubted anyone would be able to hear them while the parties were going on. Adelaide paused,  _ anyone _ ...

“Is there anyone out there!” She yelled, “A painting anything! If so you need to get the closest professors to come down here or the entire castle could be destroyed if we don’t quell this now! Can anyone hear me!” No response. Adelaide gulped, she had been afraid of that. She glanced at Cecillia and back at the door. Suddenly she slapped herself and Cecillia jumped.  _ Stop thinking about what will happen and just do it! _ , Adelaide said, _ you’re starting to sweat like a pig what harm could it really do? _ . 

“You have to promise me not to tell anyone what you’re about to see,” Adelaide said to Cecillia. “Promise me.”

“Why?” Cecillia asked.

“Please I can stop this but you have to promise me not to tell anyone!” Adelaide said. She was desperate and she made sure her eyes showed it.

“I promise,” Cecillia said still clearly confused on what she was talking about.

Adelaide turned to the roaring fire. A minute at best. Adelaide lifted her hands and closed her eyes.  _ Focus,  _ She thought,  _ focus, focus! _ . “Aguamenti,” she mumbled. Nothing. “Aguamenti,” She said a little bit louder. Still nothing. “Aguamenti.” She said as loud as she normally speaks. Fifteen seconds.  _ Focus _ , ten.  _ Focus _ , seven.  _ Focus _ ! Three. Her eyes flew open and she screamed, “AGUAMENTI-MAXIMA!” 

A large amount of water flew forward out of nowhere, and ran into the cabinet putting the fire out. Cecillia’s eyes were wide as she stared blankly at Adelaide. Adelaide was breathing deeply and fell onto her hands and knees.

“That…” Cecillia said distantly, “Was amazing! How did you do that without a wand? I don’t think Harry Potter could even do that!”

“Harry Potter was never powerful,” Adelaide said, “He was just a righteous and smart man who was forced into unfortunate circumstances by the dark lord.”

“Dark lord?” Cecillia asked suspiciously.

“Sorry,” Adelaide said quickly, “bad habit.” Cecillia was about to ask another question when they heard a Click!. Professor Neville, professor Yail, Filch, and Headmistress McGonagall bursted through the door their wands at the ready. They stopped as they found Adelaide, Cecillia, and the walls charred. 

“Well that solves the door problem,” Adelaide said exasperatedly.

“Headmistress McGonagall!” Cecillia said. “You’ll never believe what happened! There were a whole bunch of fire charm sticks from Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes, and, and, Adelaide was amazing! She didn’t even-”

Adelaide quickly climbed to her feet, covered Cecillia’s mouth, and smiled at them. “There was water in that bucket over there and we were able to throw it onto the bombs. Apparently whoever kidnapped us didn’t think we were capable of untying their knots.”

“What were you about to say Miss Amari?” Professor Neville said, his eyes lingered on Adelaide suspiciously before moving over to Cecillia. Adelaide removed her hand from Cecillia’s mouth.

“That Adelaide was amazing,” Cecillia said. Adelaide's heart began to pound faster. “She didn’t even hesitate to use the bucket while I was sitting there trying to carefully plot out what to do next! I believe you should award Slytherin points for her act of bravery, even if it was more of a Gryffindor move.”

“There you people go stereotyping everything,” Adelaide muttered under her breath. Cecillia rattled on and on trying to find some way to support her case to award Slytherin points, until the headmistress finally raised her hand for her to stop.

“Twenty-five points will be awarded to both Slytherin and Ravenclaw house for this service.” The headmistress said. “I hope both of you realize you did a great deal today. We were informed by an anonymous source that the school was going to have an attack from the inside today and that at least two students would be placed directly in harm's way. So when a man from one of the paintings down here came to find me I assumed it was about the attack. I’m grateful that it was both of you capable young women, who were captured. I hope to see wonderful things, from both of you in the future.”

Professor Neville smiled at both of them, professor Yail nodded encouragingly, and Filch...well, he did what he always did, he scowled at them.

Professor Neville motioned to them to follow him so they did. He led them through several hallways and up several flights of steps until they reached the entrance to the great hall where the major party was taking place. He told them to have a nice day, and rushed off before Adelaide had a chance to ask any questions about the attack or this “anonymous” source.

Cecillia and Adelaide stood at the entrance to the great hall for a bit in silence. The inside of the room was loud with chatter and music, but Adelaide was somehow still able to drown out all the commotion. She couldn’t stop thinking about why it had been them who were captured and why they had ended up in that room in particular. It was definitely quite far from the party so no one would be able to find them without looking so that made sense, but why had it been them?

“Why did you think we were the one who were chosen to be captured?” Adelaide finally asked Cecillia, breaking the silence. “I don’t really get why it was us.”

“Well,” Cecillia said, and Adelaide instantly knew she was in for quite a lecture. “First of all it was far from the party which is an ideal place to hide someone or something. However I believe it was several floors directly below the party since we seemed to be walking in circles just going up a level each time. So it's safe to conclude we were directly below the party.”

“So their goal was to hurt as many people as possible,” Adelaide concluded.

“Not quite,” Cecillia said. Adelaide raised an eyebrow in question. “While it might seem like that was their goal to anyone who wasn’t in the room it’s obvious that, that wasn’t their goal at all. Otherwise why would both of us had been in there? No, I believe someone was watching us the whole time, or more accurately watching you.” Adelaide shook her head she wasn’t convinced. “Think about it, with the power you hold, if anyone was to figure out about that and tell anyone else about it, the word would spread like wildfire, no pun intended from what we just went through, and before you knew it every power hungry wizard and witch would be after you. They probably wanted to test you to see how powerful you really were and put me in there to distract you from that conclusion since you would keep coming back to why I was in there too. Trust me when I say I seriously doubt I hold such and importance to someone that they would want to test me by trying to kill me.

“If you look at all the fact, it’s not really that confusing or hard to believe. You just have to logic it out.”

“How is any of that not confusing?” Adelaide asked. “Don’t get me wrong, I understand what you’re saying, but the average person would have lost you by your second sentence, heck, they probably would have lost you by your second word!”

Cecillia began to laugh so hard she cried. “That’s exactly what happens to a friend of mine! My other friend is so nice he pretends to get what I’m saying when I know he totally doesn’t!” She started calming down. “Speaking of which, would you like to meet my friends? They’re not bad people.”

“Thanks, but I’ll pass,” Adelaide said, “I’m not supposed to take part in the festivities.”

“Oh come on it will only be for a few minutes,” Cecillia said. She grabbed Adelaide's hand and led Adelaide through the crowd. It took several minutes before Cecillia finally saw them and pointed them out. They were standing by the refreshment table. She let go of Adelaide’s hand and rushed over.

Adelaide saw the two people Cecillia had pointed out. Adelaide could recognize that messy dark, blonde hair and grey-blue eyes anywhere. It was Luke, the one person Adelaide did not want to see at that moment.

…

 

“Luke!” Luke heard someone shout from behind him. He spun around with piece of pumpkin bread half hanging out of his mouth to see Cecillia running towards him. 

“Where have you been we’ve looked everywhere for you!” Jakob said from next to Luke. Jakob was in a nice button up black dress robe. He had promised to help cater at the party.

“That is an amazing tale that I assure is not made up!” Cecillia gave them a quick summary of what happened in the form where the bucket had been full of water. “I actually brought the girl with me, she should be right...here.” Behind Cecillia there was no one besides the flood of people. One lone girl would be impossible to spot in this crowd.

“What was her name?” Jakob asked.

“Unfortunately she never told me…” Cecillia said. She sounded super disappointed. 

“You’ll see her again eventually,” Luke said. “This maybe a big school, but you said she looked like a second year right?” Cecillia nodded. “Then there’s no way we won’t see her again. We should have her in at least one, if not all of our classes. I’m sure you’ll see her again.” Cecillia was still pouting, but nodded. Luke stared into the crowd the girl could have been any Slytherin out there, he had no clue it was the same Slytherin who had saved him not that long ago as well.


	5. It was a Fantasy

Quidditch...why does it exist? It's a way for rival houses to become even greater rivals through a game that doesn’t matter! Adelaide thought whoever created it was either a genius or an idiot. She didn’t play on the Slytherin team, but she did go to the games mainly because she found it easier to focus on homework when the only other thing in front of her was something she believed was boring.

Adelaide rushed through the crowds of students headed to the stadium on a very cloudy day. It looked like it was going to rain and Adelaide wanted to get into the stadium before it did. Today Slytherin wasn’t playing, but since there was a match she thought why not? The opponents were Gryffindor against Ravenclaw, so any Slytherin who went was going to be expected to boo at Gryffindor, her plan was to cheer, whenever she actually looked at the game that is.

She rushed up the stairs and into the stands. It was still like a barren wasteland since most people weren’t there yet. She rushed through the seats to get as close to tall stand thingy as she could.

Bam! She ran straight into someone and fell flat on her pack.

“Sorry,” She said quickly as she got up and dusted herself off.

“No problem just watch where you’re going next time,” The man said. Shit, she knew that voice, it was the voice of someone she had been desperately trying to avoid for the past month and a half.

“Thanks, I’ll do that, gotta run!” She bolted past Luke as fast as she possibly could. 

Luke’s eyes widened as he realized it was her. “Adelaide wait!” He called after her, but she didn’t turn around. As she disappeared a smile spread across Luke’s face and he began to walk down the stairs.

Adelaide found a seat in the back corner where she could hide from everyone else and do homework. The crowd moved into their seats and the announcer took off.

“Welcome wizards and witches, to the long awaited Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw match!” The announcer yelled. “On the Gryffindor side, we have Lily, Luna Potter as the seeker.” Everyone cheered. “Kristn Pinalish, Yin Soron, and Luke Veiltick as the chasers!” Everyone cheered again and Adelaide sat straight up in her seat and watched as Luke and the others flew out into the stadium. The announcer said the rest of the players, but Adelaide was more focused on how she hadn’t realized he played before? Sure she hadn’t known him until recently, but she should have at least known his name from the other games.

As he flew out Luke glanced to the side and was barely able to make her, but saw Adelaide and waved. Now more than ever Adelaide wished she had brought one of her sweatshirts so she could disappear and never be seen again. The only problem was then people would try to sit on her.

After announcing, the seeker, keeper, and beaters, he moved onto the Ravenclaw team and she was had another fabulous surprise.

“For the Ravenclaw team we have, Yui Kuro, Sina Shulan, and Cecillia Amari!”

Adelaide quickly shoved her face in her textbook and tried her hardest to pretend this wasn’t happening. Did she hate Luke? No. Did she like him? Maybe. Was she afraid of what her family would do if she figured out she knew and might be friends with a Gryffindor? Definitely. She was especially scared since he maybe a muggle born, and her family would be furious if that was the case.

The Quidditch game began with Gryffindor having the quaffle, but Ravenclaw quickly swiped it and got ten points. Gryffindor got the quaffle, scored ten points, and then followed up with another ten. The game went twenty minutes before the bludger flew through the air and nearly knocked a Ravenclaw off their broom. Luckily they dodged it and kept playing. One of the Ravenclaw beaters hit the bludger square into Luke’s stomach. He tipped over his broom but held on. After a few seconds, he had shaken the hit off and climbed back onto his broom.

“Lily Potter has spotted the snitch!” The announcer said. The Ravenclaw’s seeker bolted down to where Lily was trying to get to the snitch.

Ravenclaw scored thirty points and Gryffindor scored ten while the race was on, meaning Ravenclaw was ahead by ten points.

Lily flew straight into the Ravenclaw’s seeker, and the seeker rammed into the wall. Lily reached out for the snitch and missed it by a few inches while Ravenclaw score another ten points.

Luke had the quaffle now and was dodging and weaving between the Ravenclaw’s. He passed the quaffle to name to Kristn and as Luke got close to the goal Kristn passed it back. Luke threw it through one of the rings scoring ten points.

Cecillia tried to pass the quaffle to one of her teammates, but Luke intercepted it with a cheeky, “Thank you.”

He threw it through a ring again scoring another ten points.

“Lily Potter has caught the Snitch!” The announcer yelled. “One hundred-fifty points to Gryffindor and they win the match!”

The crowd erupted in cheers and Luke raised his fist in victory. Adelaide started to sneak through the stands trying to get out before she ran into either Luke or Cecillia. She was almost out of the arena when someone grabbed her by the sleeve. She spun around to see a tall and slim boy, with short bleach blonde hair, hazel eyes, and very pale skin. His robes had a Hufflepuff badge on the right side.

“Is your name Adelaide Fions?” He asked. “I’m sorry if I’m wrong, just one of my friends now's a Slytherin by that name and he described her just like you so I was curious.”

“No,” Adelaide said, “I’m not.” She ripped her wrist from his grasped and to her surprise he bowed.

“I’m really sorry!” He said. “My mistake I shouldn’t have asked.”

Adelaide began to drown in guilt. This was the sweetest, most adorable cinnamon roll she’d ever met, and she was lying straight to his face. She swallowed and her eyes became soft.

“Are you friends with Luke Veiltick?” Adelaide asked.

“Yes,” He said, “how did you know?”

Adelaide took a deep breath, “Yes I am Adelaide Fions,” She said. “I’m sorry I lied to you.”

“Oh no that’s fine,” He said quickly, “It was weird for me to approach you like that, I’m sorry!”

She had lied to his face, and he was the one who was apologizing. Adelaide quickly concluded that this boy was a cinnamon roll through, and through.

“Jakob!” Luke yelled from the side. Adelaide sighed and her eyes turned stone hard again, as she turned and glared at him. Luke stopped as soon as he saw her. 

“You’re that girl from last week!” Cecillia said. She ran past Luke and squeezed Adelaide so hard Adelaide thought she was going to pop. When the hug was over Adelaide returned to glaring at Luke. Cecillia followed Adelaide’s glare to Luke. “What did you do, Luke?”

“Don’t blame me Cecillia!” Luke said. “I didn’t do anything.”

“Mhmm,” Cecillia said.

“I didn’t do anything!” Cecillia raised an eyebrow. “I’m dead serious Cecillia!” A smile tugged on Adelaide’s lip. “See she’s smiling now!”

“He didn’t do anything Cecillia,” Adelaide said. “I’m messing with him.”

“See?” Luke asked. “I was really starting to worry that I actually did do something,” He said more to himself than anyone.

Cecillia and Jakob began to chuckle, and Adelaide’s smile widened.

“I’m Jakob Nine,” Jakob said after the laughter died down. “I never actually introduced myself.”

“I’m Adelaide Fions, but you already know that,” Adelaide said.

“Oh it’s the same person who saved me and Luke?” Cecillia asked.

“You call yourself a Ravenclaw and yet a Hufflepuff figured that out before you did?” Adelaide asked.

Cecillia shrugged. “I didn’t know either,” Luke said.

“Yeah but you’re always the last broom to cross the finish line,” Adelaide said with a smirk.

Jakob and Cecillia began laughing again and even Luke laughed this time. Adelaide smiled, she felt happy, and that was something she hadn’t felt in a long time. 

Suddenly a presence filled Adelaide. Her expression went blank. They were almost their.

“Adelaide?” Luke asked.

She quickly turned around. “I have to go,” She said and started heading towards the castle.

“Wait!” He called. “Hogsmeade!”

She looked at him with a confused look. They weren’t old enough to go to Hogsmeade so what could he mean?

“The trip to Hogsmeade is soon and any third years and older will be going.” Luke said. “Do you want to hang out then?”

Her eyes widened when she realized what he was saying. She remembered that Luke knew about her brothers, and she wondered if he was starting to piece together things about her family.

“Um, sure,” She stammered. “I’ll meet you in the pumpkin patch as soon as they leave. Um, yeah, uh, bye.” She turned and quickly bolted towards the castle.

…

There was two days before students who were eligible went to Hogsmeade. That meant two days before Adelaide had to go through with what she promised she would do. She wasn’t sure wether to be happy that she was going to have someone to be with or terrified that she was going to have someone to be with.

She felt like she was going to mess it up in so many ways. The main things she thought she was going to mess up were, let something slip about her family, her power, or everything single thing possible.

Adelaide sighed and decided to head back to her room to have an existential crisis in private when she heard her brothers around the corner down the hallway next to her. She knew she shouldn’t go that way if she didn’t want to get involved in something she would regret later, but curiosity overwhelmed. She figured out curiosity did kill the cat.

When Adelaide turned the corner she noticed two things. First, like always her brothers were picking on the Hufflepuff who was normally their errand boy, and second, that Hufflepuff happened to be Jakob. Just her luck. She knew she should’ve kept walking. Nitesh turned and looked at her. 

“What do you want Adelaide?” Dax said. As he turned to look at her. She gulped. “Turn around and walk away. Unless you want to get a few good kicks in too.” Dax slammed his foot into Jakob’s stomach. 

Adelaide’s eyes met Jakob’s, another bad decision. Guilt began to completely fill her again as she flipped her hair and turned her back. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Luke running towards them. Her limbs stiffened.

Luke ended up right next to her as he yelled Jakob’s name. Luke was out of breath and Dax smirked at Luke.

“Why the hell are you just standing there Adelaide?” He asked as Cecillia caught up with him.

Adelaide gritted her teeth, squared her shoulder, and looked him dead in the eyes. “Why would I listened or help trash like you?” She turned on her heel and flipped her hair as she walked down the hall. She turned the corner and burst into a sprint. She ran through hall after hall, and up and down many flights of steps. She wasn’t sure where she was going she just let her instinct lead her.

Is running all I can ever do? she asked herself she came to a halt in an abandoned hallway. Tears filled her eyes filled with tears as she realized this was the same hallway she had saved Luke in. She leaned against a wall and slowly slid down it as the tears began to roll down her eyes. She hugged her knees to her chest and tucked in her head. She didn’t make a noise, but just silently sat there letting the tears roll down her face.

“Well, it was a nice fantasy while it lasted,” She mumbled. She didn’t notice another presence until a hand rested on her head and she was pulled into their arms. 

“Hey,” Luke said in a warm, caring voice.

“Luke I-” Adelaide said.

“Don’t worry about it,” Luke said. “Just apologize to Jakob and cut him off whenever he tries to apologize instead, alright?”

“I’m sorry,” Adelaide said. New tears began to flow down her cheeks. “But I can’t do that.” She pushed away from him and wiped her eyes. “Good day,” she turned around and headed down the hall. Luke opened his mouth to call after her but closed it and shook his head as she disappeared.


	6. Conjuring a Horcrux

Cecillia was searching through the many books in the library while listening to Luke groan about how he didn’t want to write all of the papers he had overdue. Normally Cecillia would just lend him her papers to copy so he would shut up, but lately, she had been getting lower grades because the teachers had learned that she had been giving up her papers willingly. So she decided it was time for Luke to start pulling his own weight.

She pulled out four transfiguration books from one shelf that Luke would need for his next paper and looked through the shelf to the other side. Right, there in front of Cecillia was an all too familiar face. This girl's long black hair fell naturally over her shoulders and she was so indulged in the book in front of her Adelaide Fions seemed to be lost in another world. 

Adelaide’s eyes flew up to the shelf, but Cecillia quickly shoved the books back into place before they made eye contact.

This was bad. Cecillia snuck back towards Luke and waved her arms to get Jakob’s attention. Jakob said something to Luke, who was face down in his paper as he sulked, and Jakob walked over.

The day after Adelaide turned her back to us as she watched her brothers beat up Jakob, Luke forced us to go to the pumpkin patch just in case Adelaide showed up to apologize. A half hour past the time we had promised to meet up with her, Jakob and I went back inside, but Luke stayed outside for another hour before coming in. Even in that hour, Adelaide hadn’t shown up, and all Luke got from waiting was a nasty cold. That cold is what got him so far behind in school. The rest of the day the older students were in Hogsmeade, Luke was in a daze and couldn’t focus on anything the three of them did together. He even lost against Jakob in a short Quidditch match. This concerned Cecillia since Jakob was a terrible flyer.

Cecillia didn’t know what he was thinking and it bugged her. Normally Luke was an open book to her, but now he was like a giant, locked safe, with a dozen wizards standing guard.

“What is it?” Jakob asked.

“There happens to be a little miss Fions at a desk, two shelves down,” Cecillia said.

“And?”

“And we need to keep Luke from seeing her!”

“Why?”

“Because he might not be able to settle down without answers on why she hasn’t wanted to apologize, and something tells me Adelaide isn’t going to jump at the chance to tell him anything.”

Jakob sighed. “So you want us to keep them apart?”

“Yes, besides if he knows she’s here he’ll get even farther behind in homework than he already is. It’s our duty as his friend to keep his grades from dropping farther down the drain than they already are!”

“You don’t want to feel bad for him, so then you won’t feel inclined to let him copy your stuff again, right?”

“Shut up.”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to offend you.”

“Okay, operation keep Luke focused commence!”

…

How had Jakob been dragged into Cecillia’s crazy ideas again? Oh right, he was a pushover. He sighed as Cecillia asked what Adelaide’s position was.

“She hasn’t moved yet,” Jakob reassured Cecillia.

“Okay cinnamon roll, keep watching the target, and remember to say over, over.” Cecillia said.

“Why do we need to use code names,” Jakob paused, “over.”

“Because it makes it seem more like an action movie, over.”

Jakob was used to Cecillia’s crazy ideas and plans when she was extremely bored since they normally ended up with all three of them in detention. Sure she was probably the smartest Ravenclaw here, but sometimes she didn’t make the smartest moves. It was probably from her need to be rebellious, since the famous model known as her mother, never allowed Cecillia to do what she wanted to do or allowed her to be herself, or it was that Cecillia never had any sort of adventure except for the adventures from the movies she watched. So somehow she may have wanted her own adventure.

“I don’t think we should really be spying on Adelaide,” Jakob said, “she's entitled to keep her secrets secret, and I’m sure she has her reasons for turning away. I understand that Luke might get distracted, but that doesn’t mean either of them will notice one another, or that it’s all right for us to keep them from saying hello, over.”

“Stop being a pushover, over.”

“Yes Madam Raven, over.”

Jakob sighed again. No one understood him. He wasn’t a pushover he just didn’t want anyone else to suffer the kind of pain he constantly did. He wasn’t even the Fions’ errand boy because he wanted to be. If he had a choice he would stop doing what they told him to, but those two Slytherins knew things about him that not even Luke and Cecillia knew if those secrets ever came to light he knew his friends wouldn’t hesitate to leave him behind. The best thing he could do for himself was lay low, no matter how selfish it was he couldn’t let them find out he’s-

Adelaide stood up with a jolt and hit her head on the shelf in front of her.

“Bloody hell,” she muttered as she stumbled back. She shut the book she was reading and shoved it in her bag. She pushed her quill, ink, and parchment into her bag as quickly as possible. _ Why was she in such a rush? _

“The target is frantically moving, over.” Jakob said quietly. “She seems to be moving to the exit, over.”

“Watch her and make sure she leaves, over.” Cecillia replied.

Jakob followed her through the various shelves, but she didn’t leave like he thought she was, instead she crept into the restricted section. Okay, Jakob was sure Adelaide Fions was insane. It was one thing to sneak under the cover of night, but instead, she waltzed in there in broad daylight like she owned the place.

Jakob snuck in after her, cursing himself for being following Cecillia’s orders. Adelaide walked from shelf to shelf until she stopped in front of a certain bookshelf. It seemed older than the others and the books all bore strange title. Sure they were in a school for witches and wizards, but these titles were strange even for Hogwarts. An example would be,  _ Blood Infusion for Wizards _ , and  _ Conjuring a Horcrux _ which Adelaide slid out of her bag and onto the shelf _. _

Ever since he-who-must-not-be-named was defeated Hogwarts had, had a class revolving around what Horcrux’ were, for first years, so the students knew how dangerous Horcrux’ were, but they never told them how to make a Horcrux, which was smart, but even with as little information that Jakob knew about them he knew that  _ Conjure _ was not the word you would use if it was a manual on how to create a Horcrux. 

Adelaide quickly grabbed the book to the left of  _ Conjuring a Horcrux _ called  _ Blood Infusion for Wizards _ . She began to read  _ Blood Infusion of Wizards _ . A few minutes past and she slammed the book shut and shoved it into her bag.

“It’s gone,” Adelaide mumbled with a sigh of relief. She started heading towards Jakob. He quickly hid around another book shelf and watched Adelaide sneak out of the restricted section. He didn’t follow straight away. First he grabbed  _ Conjuring a Horcrux _ and then ran out of the restricted section to follow her. 

…

After Adelaide left Jakob and Cecillia had regrouped with Luke. Cecillia had been coaching Luke through all of his papers and he was finally done. Now the three of them were walking through the halls of Hogwarts. Normally Luke started the conversations and since he wasn’t saying anything neither were they. The long silence made both Luke and Cecillia feel uneasy, they may have even felt threatened by it.

Luke suddenly stopped and Cecillia jumped.

“Okay,” Luke turned to them. “What was going on in the library?”

“What do you mean?” Cecillia said nervously, “Nothing was happening.”

“Oh come on Cecillia,” Luke said, “I may be oblivious, but I’m not that stupid. I know something was happening back there.”

Cecillia’s mouth went dry and Luke glanced at Jakob. Jakob looked away.

“Speaking of which there’s something we need to look into,” Jakob mumbled. He looked from side to side, “In private.” 

…

They were in a dark, empty classroom flipping through the pages of  _ Conjuring a Horcrux _ making sure to read every page carefully.

“This is irritating,” Cecillia said after they had flipped through the entire book. “There wasn’t a single mention of a Horcrux in there. What’s the point in naming the book  _ Conjuring a Horcrux _ if you're not even going to mention a single Horcrux?”

“I don’t know,” Luke mumbled, Cecillia glanced over to him as he stared intently at his shoes. Why couldn’t she make a simple apology? Luke was wondering, What could have possibly scared her that much? He saw Adelaide as a strong capable young woman, so how had something scared her that much? He had been staring into space for the past hour since they told him Adelaide had been at the library. Now Luke was barely acknowledging his friends’ presences. 

“I have really bad feeling about all of this.” Cecillia said, “I’m starting to think we should just ask  _ Adelaide _ .” She put a bit more emphasis into Adelaide than any other word.

“What?” Luke asked. His head snapped up.

“WILL YOU STOP DAYDREAMING ABOUT YOUR CINDERELLA, PRINCE CHARMING!” Cecillia yelled. 

“She not Cinderella,” Luke said. “I’m just confused, and now I know how you normally feel when you can’t figure out a transfiguration question.”

“Cinderella?” Jakob asked quietly.

“Don’t worry about,” Cecillia said to Jakob. She re-focused on Luke. “You do know that Adelaide and a transfiguration question have nothing in common right?”

“We don’t have an answer for either of them.” Luke said. Cecillia shook her head in awe, at how stupid Luke was being. 

“Um, guys?” Jakob said. They glanced over to him and then down at the book. He was the back cover in two halves. The back cover had obviously been cut open with a letter opener or another knife of some sort, but what was really interesting was the pin on the inside. The pin was a silver rod with two golden snakes wrapped around it. One of the snake's mouth was open and the other one’s mouth was closed. The snakes seemed to stare at the three of them, the snake with the open mouth seemed to be examining them as if wondering if they were going to be his next prey. The other looked at them as if trying to warn them of something.

A shadow fell over them and the book. They whirled around. Nothing was there. They turned back to the pin and the shadow loomed over again. This time none of them turned. The shadow seemed to grow bigger and bigger with each passing second. Sweat trickled down Luke’s temple. His gut rose as the shadow began to take the form of a snake. Cecillia couldn’t take the pressure and whirled around. The shadow vanished.

Jakob shoved the pin back into folds of the book and slammed it shut. “All in favor of sneaking this back into the restricted section say I.”

“I,” Cecillia and Luke said in unison.

They snuck through the hallways and back to the library. They shoved the book in place, snuck out of the library, and sprinted down the hallways to try to get as far away from that book as possible.

“Does anyone know what that was?” Jakob asked.

“One person might,” Luke said.

“No,” Cecillia said. She looked Luke straight in the eyes. “We can’t trust her at this point.” Luke dropped her gaze and was silent. “Promise me Luke.”

“What-” Luke said looking back at her. Cecillia grabbed Luke’s shoulders.

“Promise me you won’t going digging for answers by telling the Slytherin girl about this!” Cecillia said. “Promise me you won’t be that reckless!”

“I promise,” Luke said. He was shocked by how concerned Cecillia was.

Cecillia’s eyes stayed hard and locked with Luke’s for longer than necessary, so she could drive home her point. Cecillia sighed, her eyes turned soft and they filled with concern. She turned on her heel and stalked down the hall, leaving Luke to wonder why she was so concerned. Cecillia had never cared about his stupid stunts before this, and he wasn’t stupid enough to try to dig around to find out what that shadow had been. That thing had terrified him. Luke didn’t realize that his friend knew more about where his curiosity could take him then he did. 


	7. Never Again

It had been three days since they had found Conjuring a Horcrux in the restricted section, and Luke still couldn’t sleep. Christmas was coming up and fast. Cecillia and Jakob were staying here like last year, and this year Luke had decided to do the same. For his own reasons of course. Those reasons happened to be the exact things that Cecillia had made him promise not to do three days ago. He hadn’t been sure if he wanted to ask Adelaide questions about the book, or if he wanted her to help to look into it, but he decided that he sure didn’t want to look into it alone, and since Cecillia had made him promise not to look into Conjuring a Horcrux, in front of Jakob he couldn’t ask either of them for help so his options were limited to: Professor’s, which meant he would have to admit Jakob had snuck into the restricted section, someone he didn’t trust, or Adelaide. Better safe than sorry, is what he decided.

Luke thought if he found out what the shadow had been maybe he would finally be able to sleep at night. Luke paced around the Gryffindor common room early one Wednesday morning, running each magical creature he had learned about in class through his head, trying to figure out what that shadow could have possibly been. Luke flopped onto a couch when he had finally given up and groaned. He was so tired. 

After a minute of lying on the couch the other Gryffindors began to flood down the steps to go to breakfast. Luke sighed and followed the crowd since breakfast was probably the only thing he would be able to do as tired as he was. He ate breakfast as quickly as he could and headed off to Transfiguration, his first class. 

Luke fell asleep so many times in the course of that day he lost count. By the time he got to his last class, which was Potions, he had been slapped by several teachers. When he had met up with Cecillia and Jakob after breakfast, neither of them had looked any better than he did. Cecillia would have bags under her eyes if she hadn’t covered them up with makeup and she wouldn’t stop yawning. Jakob had very distinct bags under his eyes and his head kept bobbing as he desperately tried to stay awake.

Last period they went into the Potions classroom together and found their seats. Luke leaned over the table and looked at Adelaide who seemed to be using her potions textbook as a pillow. She looked so peaceful as she slept. 

“MISS FIONS!” Professor Yail yelled.

“Bang Root!” Adelaide yelled as if she was answering a question, while she shot up. Professor Yail raised an eyebrow. “Oh, you weren’t asking me a question?” Professor Yail shook her head. “Okay.” Adelaide laid back down.

“Miss Fions I would appreciate it if you stopped falling asleep in my class every day,” Professor Yail said. Adelaide raised her head and Luke was pretty positive Adelaide made sure professor Yail was watching her before rolling her eyes. Adelaide set her head back down in her textbook. Heat rose in Professor Yail’s face.

Professor Yail strode up to Adelaide and started giving her an earful. Adelaide took a deep breath and sighed, or did she yawn? Luke’s eyes widened. Didn’t Jakob say Adelaide had been looking at Conjuring a Horcrux too? Luke wondered. I can’t believe I didn’t realize she probably wants to find out what that thing is as well because it’s obvious she isn’t sleeping as well.

Luke figured that after a few minutes professor Yail was satisfied and that’s why Yail descended the stairs back to her desk and began teaching again.

Adelaide’s head bobbed every so often as she almost fell back asleep but caught herself just in time. 

The bell rang and Adelaide seemed like she was trying to quickly follow the crowd out. Luke grabbed his stuff, ignoring Jakob and Cecillia when they asked him to wait for them, and followed her out as closely behind as he could. Adelaide went left and Luke looked in both directions to make sure Cecillia or Jakob caught up with him yet.

Adelaide weaved through the crowd with such speed and elegance Luke had a hard time not falling behind. She took a sharp turn left and disappeared around the corner. Luke turned to find a dead end and no one standing there. She hadn’t been wearing one of her sweatshirts so how had she disappeared? Luke looked down the nearby passageways, but found no trace of her.

He let out a long sigh. With any luck, she’d be where he was planning to go, the library. Luke headed that direction and when he arrived he looked from desk to desk, and shelf to shelf, to try to find Adelaide. He scanned the library three times before giving up and heading to Gryffindor tower.

…

Luke walked through bookshelf after bookshelf searching the library for the one Herbology book he needed. He walked to the librarian and asked if she knew where it was. Unfortunately, someone had already checked it out. Typical.

A week had passed since Adelaide had completely disappeared from a dead end, and for some reason, Luke hadn’t seen Adelaide anywhere but the classroom. Before it seemed like her ran into her around every corner, and know when he wanted to see her more than anything she disappeared every time he tried to engage her. 

He went back to the bookshelves figuring he could at least find a book that was similar. When he had a good stack of books, for Herbology and other classes, he headed towards the door. He could barely see where he was going through his books. His foot hit someone's outstretched leg and he fell to the ground, his books scattering.

“Crap,” Luke said as he climbed to his hands and knees.

“I am so sorry,” A girl's voice said. “I wasn’t paying attention to what was happening around me.” She began to pick up Luke’s books.

Why did she sound sort of familiar? Luke looked up to her. Adelaide turned around and met his eyes. A smile slowly spread across Luke’s face, as Adelaide’s eyes widened and her face drained of color.

“Hey,” Luke said with a cheeky smirk, as he lifted his eyebrows a few times. Adelaide just stared at him like he was her worst nightmare. “You know you could laugh, and actually show a little bit of emotion or something!”

Adelaide dropped eye contact and shoved the books into his hands. “Sorry again,” She muttered. She stood up and she began to walk away. Luke grabbed her wrist as he stood up, dropping all the books again.

“Wait-” Luke said. 

Adelaide twisted her wrist so she could grab his arm and flipped him onto his back, causing the wind to be knocked out of him. Luke gasped out for air. Adelaide walked past him and he was barely able to croak, “Conjuring a Horcrux!” Adelaide stopped, turned, and looked straight at him.

“What?” She said worriedly.

“What was that shadowy figure that looms over you when you hold the pin from the book Conjuring a Horcrux?” Luke asked as he slowly sat up.

Adelaide's mouth parted slightly and she stared at him with disbelief. “You looked in that thing? More importantly, how do you know I looked at it as well?”

“Jakob saw you,” Luke said. Adelaide raised an eyebrow. “Cecillia saw you and thought that the two of them should keep you away from me since they thought I’d get distracted from studying.”

“That’s impossible,” Adelaide said, “I know Cecillia saw me, but after that there’s no way Jakob saw me, he couldn’t have been able to see me.” Luke looked at her confusedly. “While I was looking through Conjuring a Horcrux, I had my sweatshirt on Luke, and I double checked the hood was up about ten times. There is no way Jakob could have seen me.”

“But he did,” Luke said. They stared at each other in silence as both of them realized what that truly meant. “He couldn’t be able to...he would have known if he had some power like that...there’s no way he could have…”

“What other explanation is there?” Adelaide asked. She shook her head. “I know it's hard to believe, but how else? Unless the charm ran out, but the charm was redone the day before I went to the library, it shouldn’t have run out. So it’s only safe to assume that he can see through invisibility cloaks.” They stared at each other in silence again. 

“Well,” Adelaide said. She slowly started backing away from him. “It was great to catch up with you and all, but I really need to-” Luke grabbed her arm and pulled her into a hug before she could run. “Um...what are you doing?”

“I’m holding you here so you’ll have to listen to me.” Luke said. “First off, stop avoiding me, were friends, and no matter what you do or say, that won’t change. You are nothing like your brothers and I know that.

“Secondly, I want your help in figuring out what that shadow is because I can’t sleep, and I figured since you saw it too you might be willing to help me. Cecillia made me promise not to ask you for help or to dig around for answers, quite frankly I would like to sleep again. So will you help me or no deal?”

Adelaide looked up at him and smiled. “Yeah I’ll help, since I haven’t been able to sleep well either and my grades are suffering because of it.”

Luke smiled at her but didn’t let her go. Slowly his smile widened even more and his eyes began to sparkle. Adelaide frowned and looked at him like she was about ready to chuck a book at his head. She pushed him away and rolled her eyes.

“We should start by looking at Conjuring a Horcrux,” Adelaide said. “Even if we don’t want to hold that pin again, it’s our only lead.”

They walked over to the restricted section. Adelaide was completely silent, when she picked  open the lock and snuck through the gate.

“Wait here,” She whispered. She tiptoed into the restricted section, and within moments of entering she was back at the entrance holding Conjuring a Horcrux. They snuck away from the restricted section after Adelaide re-locked the gate, found a desk in the corner, and opened the book.

Adelaide pulled out the pin and began twirling it in her fingers. They stared at it and the shadow began to creep. Luke began to turn towards it when Adelaide grabbed him.

“Don’t turn around,” She said. The lights flickered.

“Um, Adelaide,” Luke said nervously. Half of the libraries lights went out. Luke tugged against her.

“Don’t turn,” She hissed. The library went black. People around us started mumbling. Someone screamed. Luke ripped the pin out of Adelaide’s hand, shoved the pin back into the book, and slammed the book shut.

The lights came back on and everyone gathered around a third year, Slytherin. This girl had long brown hair, dark skin, and gray eyes. Her eyes were wide open and blank. There were four small bite marks that looked like they were caused by a small snake, on her neck.

Professor Longbottom rushed over and lifted up the girl in his arms.

“Someone call the headmistress,” Professor Longbottom said. A first year scurried towards through the exit of the library “We need to figure out what just happened.” Luke watched Adelaide out of the corner of his eye as she casually slipped Conjuring a Horcrux into her bag. Professor Longbottom scanned through the crowd. “Everyone please hand me your wands and go to the great hall. I don’t suspect any of you had a hand in this, but we need to be precocious. So we’ll search you there.”

Everyone handed in their wands and scurried to the great hall. When they arrived Filch was there, ready to check us. In total it looked like there were about twenty of them, to Luke which made him even more nervous. Filch searched every one very carefully. He searched through everything from bags to every pocket in their clothing. Luke’s heart started pounding faster and faster as Filch started nearing him and Adelaide. He glanced over at Adelaide. Her face was completely blank not an ounce of emotion was showing. She didn’t even show any signs that she might be nervous. How? How was she so calm when it was obviously their fault? What happened was because of the book Adelaide had in her possession. So if anyone should be freaking out it should be her.

Filch came to Luke and looked him in the eye. Luke swallowed hard. Luke shifted his feet nervously after Filch had lingered on him too long. Why was Filch staring at him longer than the others? There was no way Filch would be able to tell Luke had something to do with these events, right?

Filch stretched out his arms and Luke did the same. Filch patted Luke down and then moved to Adelaide.

“Bag,” Filch said in his gruff voice. Adelaide shoved her bag into Filch’s hands. Filch dug through. “What is this?” He asked as he began to pull something out of the bag. He's found them out! That was it. Filch pulled out a book with a red cover, that looked nothing like Conjuring a Horcrux

“That right there is a book,” Adelaide said in a voice that you would use when teaching a child how to speak.

“I can see that Fions,” Filch said, How does every teacher know Adelaide’s last name? Luke thought, And why did they always say it with disgust? “I’m wondering why I feel a strong magic pulse from this book. I’ve never seen this book in our library.”

“Is it a crime to bring your own book to Hogwarts?” Adelaide asked. “This is a school, it should be fine to bring a book or two. Of course, if it's not alright go ahead and dispose of it, a single book isn’t worth the trouble of trying to stop you.”

“I expect a better reason from you Fions.” Filch said.

Adelaide looked around and turned back to him. She placed her hand on her hip and her eyes narrowed. “Why?” She asked. “Is it because I’m the only other Slytherin in the library beside’s the victim, at the time this occurred? If you’re not going to stop assuming that every Slytherin out there is your enemy I’m not about to start respecting you or your wishes.” Adelaide ripped the book out of Filch’s grasp, stuffed it in her bag, turned on her heel, and walked to the door. She whirled around. “And for the record I don’t appreciate being accused unjustly.” With that she stormed out of the hall.

“Get back here Fions!” Filch yelled at her. There it was again! He says Fions like saying her last name makes his mouth taste foul. Adelaide didn’t return. “You’re dismissed.” Filch growled.

Professor Longbottom was standing at the door and handed us our wands as each student left.

First things first, Luke was going to have to locate Adelaide, again. He hadn’t wanted to follow her out so he wouldn’t raise any suspicion. But where would he start? There were plenty of places she could be and it would take days to search all of them. Luke put his hands in his pockets and aimlessly walked through the hallways. It was better than doing nothing in his eyes. He curled his fist in his pocket and his hand wrapped around something. Something flimsy and light.

Luke pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket, unfolded it, and began to read;

Hey Luke, I’ll meet you down by the lake, I just need to pick something up first. Hopefully, I’ll see you there.

~Adelaide

Sometime this girl scared Luke. For one thing, what had she down with Conjuring a Horcrux and how did she do whatever it was fast enough? Secondly, how had she slipped the piece of paper into his pocket without him noticing? Heck, with the amount of things she could do without anyone noticing she could probably kiss him and he wouldn’t notice! He guessed that the thing she needed to, “Pick up," was Conjuring a Horcrux. Luke decided to head to the lake and hope she was actually there.

....

“You’re astonishing,” Luke said. As he plopped down in front of Adelaide. She had been lying on the grass for the past five minutes reading Conjuring a Horcrux waiting for him to show up. She didn’t mind the wait since the sun had just begun to set, and the reflection of the lake was beautiful, but she was curious to why he had taken so long to find her note.

“Why do you say that?” Adelaide said without looking up from the book.

“Several reasons,” Luke said as he sat down in front of her. “First of all, a note. In my pocket. Through the chaos. How?”

“While we were heading to the great hall,” Adelaide said. “There was such a big crowd I knew you wouldn’t notice. It’s just a simple calculation, anyone could do it if they tried.”

“I know, but…” Luke paused. “I don’t know how to put, but what you can do is more that just a simple calculation. You know how to stay calm in the face of confrontation, you can come up with excuses, and convincing ones, at a moment's notice, all while knowing one false move and you're dead meat. It takes a lot to be able to that.”

“Or luck,” She said. She glanced up at him. “All it is is what pops into my head, sometimes I stumble and that’s the days when I have bad luck when I have good luck I succeed.”

“Okay I’m sorry, but just you saying that pisses me off.” Luke said. “You have so much natural talent, and you’re telling me its luck? Yeah, I don’t buy it. I would give anything to be in your position.” Adelaide shook her head and continued reading. After a while, Luke started speaking again. “You said something back there I’m kind of confused on.” Adelaide looked at him. “You said, ‘If you’re not going to stop assuming that every Slytherin out there is your enemy I’m not about to start respecting you or your wishes,’ what do you mean by him assuming every Slytherin is an enemy?”

“You’re just as guilty as anyone here,” Adelaide said. “Everyone here falls under a stereotype. Gryffindors are the Heroes, Ravenclaws are the Nerds, Hufflepuffs are the Pushovers, and Slytherins are the Villains. Slytherin is backed into a corner where no one respects us. Slytherin is about proving ourselves, and that’s all we're trying to do. Everyone around us just gives us a bad memo. However I do understand that for some of you it’s just what you're told so it’s what you're tricked into believing, but Slytherins aren’t bad people, you just make us out to be so why be anything but what Hogwarts expects of us? That’s what most Slytherins are thinking. Don’t get me wrong there are people like my brothers, who are cruel, but if you look deep enough, Gryffindor has bullies as well.

“That’s what I’m trying to change. I’m trying to show people that we're not all like what their initial thought of what a Slytherin is, but...but it’s just hard when no one seems to think that way, and, and…” My mother will kill me if she knew what I thought, she’d have no mercy. I’ve already messed up badly once before, this time she wouldn’t hold back! Is what Adelaide wanted to scream, but instead, she held it back with everything in her power. From those few words she was starting to unravel, her life was starting to come through, and that was something Adelaide had been trying to prevent by building walls around it all of last year. Yet somehow this one boy, this one Gryffindor, had somehow made Adelaide want to remove any walls she was holding up between them in the course of a month.

Luke looked into Adelaide’s eyes. “You’re not alone in thinking this,” Luke said. He began to smile sweetly, and rested his hand on hers, “Not anymore.”

Adelaide’s heart leaped in her chest, but she made sure her face didn’t show it. Who was he? What did he want with her? How did he make her feel like this in the course of a month? Hell, what was she even feeling in this moment? Adelaide bit her lip. Keep it together.

“Do you want to meet tomorrow after school to discuss all of this and go through any ideas you might have about, Conjuring a Horcrux, or Slytherin’s status. We can talk about anything on your mind.” Luke continued to smile, and Adelaide had to do everything in her power not to break down. “Just let me know if anything’s up okay? After all, what are friends for.” Adelaide's stomach did a backflip as he looked at her with strong, caring eyes. Adelaide dropped eye contact. 

Dang this guy is perceptive. She thought. He literally said, ‘anything on your mind,’ as if he knows something's wrong. To her, this felt like someone actually cared about her and not her power. For once in her life, she thought she might have a chance. She thought maybe, just maybe she may have a chance at happiness. She needed to stop thinking like that, she knew what happened last time she started believing, it was her fault it happened. She needed to stop thinking like this before Luke died too.

Adelaide looked back into his eyes. Her lips began to quiver and she could feel as the tears rolled down her face. This was bad, this was really bad. She looked away from Luke and quickly wiped the tears from her eyes. She needed to keep it together all she needed to do was keep remembering what happened last time. She looked back into Luke’s eyes, which was a mistake, and completely fell apart. Her head fell into her hands and tears started streaming down her face uncontrollably. Luke got to his feet and instantly started asking her what he said or did wrong. She kept shaking her head trying to reassure him that it wasn’t his fault.

“It-it’s nothing,” She said as she wiped the tears from her eyes. “It’s just that…” She went silent. “You know what it doesn’t matter.”

“Are you sure?” Luke asked suspiciously.

“Yeah,” She climbed to her feet and wiped away all traces of tears. “It really is nothing.” She couldn’t unravel, not here, not tomorrow, not in a month, not ever, she couldn’t let herself be vulnerable. She could be happy and angry, but she wouldn’t let someone else see her tears, she wouldn’t love, she couldn’t. 

Adelaide said goodbye to Luke and agreed to meet him after school in the library. As she walked towards the castle one thought was ringing through her head. The one thought, she knew her mother wanted her to give into, but Adelaide didn’t care what her mother said, this was the one thing where Adelaide believed her mother was right. Tears began to roll down Adelaide’s face again as she thought, I won’t love, I can’t love, never again will someone die because of me, never again.


	8. Everything Takes a Turn for the Worst

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please comment and tell me wether you prefer the formatting to be more compact, like chapter 3, or to be more spaced like this chapter.

Thump! Adelaide slammed what looked like thirty books onto the table Luke was sitting at in the library. How she had been able to fit all of these in her school bag was beyond his knowledge. These thirty object contained more than just books. There were folders and filing folders of every shape and size, and about a dozen notebooks. Taking a second glance at the pile Luke realized more than half were notebooks, in fact there only seemed to be a few actual books.

Luke thought today was perfect for a discussion. He had only been yelled at by Cecillia once for slacking off, Jakob hadn’t tripped into anyone so they hadn’t had to bail him out of trouble, and  there was a thunderstorm outside meaning that Quidditch practice was cancelled. He couldn’t have asked for a better day.

Adelaide scanned the pile and pulled out a notebook, a folder, and a book. She set them in front of Luke and sat down across from him. 

"What is this?" Luke asked.

"You said you were willing to discuss strategies with me yesterday so here we are," Adelaide said. "This the research I've gathered about four major things. One Slytherin’s history, two which and how Slytherin members would like to be seen differently, three what do other people see in and expect of Slytherin members, and four who and what obstacles are lying in the way of achieving an understanding between houses. I have number one mostly finished there are just a few more things I need to check. Two and three are done I have lists of every name and what they think. As for four," Adelaide sighed deeply and looked up at the ceiling. "That list just keeps developing."

"Uh-huh," Luke said, "and how long did all of this take you again?"

"All of last year."

"And so you expect me to read  _ all _ of this by the end of this year?"

"I expect you to read  _ most _ of it by the end of this month, but not all of it. I only brought the stuff you need to read here.” Luke stared at her like she was insane. "Look you don't need to memorize any of it, I just want feedback from an outside source."

Luke took a deep breath. He had signed up for this so he had to follow through. He opened up the first page of a notebook and began to read:

 

_ Hana Kenlar: she says she wishes others wouldn't drown out her opinion every time she tried to give advice to someone outside of Slytherin. _

_ Dan Barrok: he wants other people to respect him but is unaware how to get that respect without giving into the way people see Slytherins. _

_ Chris Canford: he's aware something needs to change he is one of the bullies of Slytherin at Hogwarts however he wishes he could not be, but people expect him to be so he is.  _

_ Fiona Kallahine: She doesn't believe she can be herself due to being a Slytherin… _

 

Luke read through every name in awe. Adelaide had been brave enough to go up to individual Slytherins and ask for their viewpoint on all of this. They could have ridiculed her and called her a creep but she asked anyway. She must have also been kind to them other wise they probably would never shared their stories and experiences with her without the same fears.

He set that notebook aside, grabbed another one, and flipped it open:

_ Kelly Lundenburg (Ravenclaw): Sees Slytherin as an obstacle that is constantly getting in her way of learning. _

_ Lux Handon (Gryffindor): Sees Slytherin as an enemy, and expects them to get in way so is constantly on guard around any Slytherin. _

_ Karin Thandrin (Gryffindor): Doesn’t really care, she’s just trying to become a good witch. _

_ Hank Clement (Ravenclaw): Thinks Slytherin is annoying, and that they shouldn’t be allowed to be a house. _

_ Xavier Lundenburg (Hufflepuff): Believes Slytherins are all fighting their own battles, but are unaware of people’s feelings outside of their own, and it pisses him off sometimes. _

_ Syen Jugar (Hufflepuff): Thinks others look at Slytherins to harshly, but Slytherins are not innocent... _

 

"This is amazing," Luke said in awe. 

"It's not really that great."

"Are you kidding me?" Luke asked. “This is bloody brilliant! How you were able to create these lists on top of figuring out two other things in one year is beyond my comprehension."

"There's still a lot more I wish I could have done with it. I could have identified more closely exactly what they wanted me to change, or I could have expanded on what others wanted to see in Slytherins, or-"

"Okay let me stop you right there. You're focusing on what you could have done and not on how much you  _ have _ done. Right now you’re trying to do something that probably many others have thought of but were too afraid to do. You're trying to change what every person in this school thinks.  _ Every person _ . If someone would have told me that was possible I would have laughed. But after seeing you, and how much you’ve already gathered I think you could do it. It’s possible you could be the one to change everything for the better. You're doing amazing things Adelaide, and yes it will take time but you can set everyone in this school down a better road, and I believe you will."

Adelaide looked at him and gave him a tired smile. "You're very good with words."

"If I am it's the only thing I'm really any good at."

"What makes you say that? By the way I saw you playing quidditch I'd say you're great at that."

"Thanks, but sports normally don't take that much natural skill to make look good. It takes practice. You can change the way people think and act without trying. I'd give anything to be able to do that."

"If I didn't have to try how come I'm doing all this preparation ahead of time before addressing Slytherins problem? If I could do what you're saying I can I would just jump in and tell everyone what's what and they'd agree with me. It's not that I have talent it's that I'm trying. I'm expecting to fail multiple times, but I'll keep trying until I succeed. If I keep doing that I believe I’ll be successful. However believing something doesn't always mean you'll follow through with that belief." She looked away from him.

“Come on, stop worrying about what happened with your brothers and Jakob. It wasn’t your fault, you were scared, everyone is at some point.”

“That doesn’t mean I had a right to turn my back on someone who needed help.” There was silence. “Is it really all right?”

“Is what all right?”

“Being your friend, I’m a Slytherin and you're a Gryffindor, if it gets out that we're friends people are going to start judging you and you probably want Cecillia and Jakob to keep being your friends.”

Luke rolled his eyes. “I’m not worried about it. Sure Cecillia and Jakob might be angry for a bit, but Jakob will get over it in a few days. Cecillia may hold a grudge for longer, but it’s whatever, she’ll get over it eventually. You need to stop worrying about other people and start worrying more about you.” There was another long silence. “Let’s change the subject.”

“Fine. Conjuring a Horcrux, any ideas?”

“I thought you were going to change it to something happier.” Adelaide frowned and narrowed her eyes. Luke sighed. “I don’t know. It’s weird, and I don’t understand what that pin does.”

“Why are you focusing on the pin? I thought the shadow is what we're focusing on.”

“Focus on the pin and you also focus on the shadow. The pin is either summoning the shadow, or it’s just triggers some sort reaction whenever anyone holds it, but I don’t know which one it does or how it would do it either.”

Adelaide nodded and pulled out the book. “Want to try to figure out.”

Luke glanced around the room. The library was deserted. He nodded. Adelaide flipped the book open to the back cover and removed the pin. The shadow loomed over head, but this time it was different. It didn’t look like a snake it looked like a human. Luke’s head flew up to behind Adelaide to see professor Yail standing there. Luke toppled out of his chair. Adelaide spun around and looked like she was about to have a heart attack. Yail raised an eyebrow suspiciously.

“You scared the bejeebers out of me Professor,” Luke said while panting.

“Why is that?” Professor Yail asked.

“I don’t know, maybe because you appeared out of nowhere!” Luke said.

“Well, I’d like to ask what the two of you are doing,” Professor Yail said.

“Obviously studying,” Adelaide said.

“What are all of the folders and notebooks for?” Professor Yail asked.

“There my notes.” Adelaide said.

“I doubt you need that many folders for one semester's notes Miss Fions.” Professor Yail said.

“There notes from last year,” Adelaide said. “They may not be notes for classes, but they are notes.”

Professor Yail picked up a notebook and began to flip through. Luke could tell Adelaide was gritting her teeth.

“What are these lists?” Professor Yail asked.

“None of your concern,” Luke said. Professor Yail glared at him and he shook his head. “You wouldn’t understand the concept. What do you want?”

“I’m curious as to why both of you are out of your common rooms.” Professor Yail said. They looked at her with confused expressions. “Did either of you hear the announcement?”

Luke and Adelaide looked at each other then shook their heads. “They’re fine Professor Yail,” Headmistress McGonagall said. “Spells haven’t been able to reach the library since yesterday. I would like to ask both of you to head back to your respective dormitories. Until further notice Hogwarts is on lockdown.”

“Why?” Adelaide asked.

“Because of the incident yesterday the victim was incapacitated and about twenty minutes ago they died.” Headmistress McGonagall explained. All of the color drained out of both of their faces. “Students are asked to not leave their dormitories except for classes and meals unless escorted by a professor-” Luke’s hand shot in the air. “Yes, Mr. Veiltick?”

“So if a professor stays with us can friends from other houses hang out in, let’s say, a classroom?” Luke asked. “Because there’s Adelaide who’s Slytherin, but then I also have two other friends, there names are Cecillia and Jakob. Cecillia is a Ravenclaw and Jakob is a Hufflepuff, so can we hang out in a classroom if there’s a professor around?”

“Yes,” Headmistress Mcgonagall said, “as long as the first time you do so you prove to us you won’t be a problem for a professor to handle.” Luke nodded to show he understood. “Like I was saying, if you’re escorted by a professor you can go to any place they’re willing to bring you. You must be in bed by eight o’clock. Lingering around your dormitory will not be tolerated. Also students are expected to report to class on time. If you are running late you need to find a professor and have them escort you to your next class. Any questions?” They shook their heads. “Good, I will escort Miss Fions to the Slytherin dormitory, and Professor Yail will escort Mr. Veiltick to the Gryffindor dormitory.”

Luke and Adelaide packed up and followed their different escorts. Luke saw Adelaide slip the pin back into the book like it was normal.

Luke followed professor Yail in silence. When they reached the dormitory professor Yail spoke the password then left without another word. The fat lady’s frame swung open and Luke climbed through the portrait hole.

Everyone had stopped what they were doing and watched him as he entered.

“LUKE!” A boy yelled as he tackled him. It was Yin Soron one of the chasers from the quidditch team. “Where have you been? We’ve been terrified for the past thirty minutes! We thought something happened to you!”

“Uh...Sorry?” Luke said.

“Where were you?” Karin Thandrin said as she stalked up to him. She was the other chaser of the Gryffindor quidditch team, she was also the quidditch team’s captain.

“In the library,” Luke said, “I didn’t hear the announcement because apparently speaker spells, and any other spell haven’t been able to reach there since the incident yesterday.”

“Wait,” Karin said, “were you studying?”

“Yeah,” Luke said.

Karin gasped. “Cecillia would be so proud of you right now!” Luke glared at her. “Oh come on you never study, you have to give me some space to be amazed.”

Luke rolled his eyes, and stared up at the ceiling. It wasn’t weird that Headmistress McGonagall had escorted one of them, there had only been two qualified adults and it was quicker if one of them escorted either Luke or Adelaide and then the other escorted the other one. So why was he so worried and why did he have the feeling Headmistress McGonagall had purposely chosen to escort Adelaide?

 

~

 

Adelaide was terrified. She walked at least five steps behind Headmistress McGonagall in hope that Headmistress McGonagall wouldn’t talk to her about the recent events. When Headmistress McGonagall had told Adelaide she was going to escort her Adelaide instantly had known she had decided to do so for a reason, and other people’s reasons is one of the things that terrified Adelaide. You could never be sure what another person wanted.

They went down several flights of steps then took a left.  _ It’s right _ , Adelaide thought. After a few minutes Headmistress McGonagall turned right and then right again. Why were they going the long way to the Slytherin dormitory? They descended a few more staircases and turned into a few different hallways before they finally reached the dormitories entrance.

“You’re probably curious as to why I took you through a longer route,” Headmistress McGonagall said. “It’s because I am aware you were at yesterday's incident and I wanted to see how nervous you would get by being around me.”

“And you took me the long way and not also Luke because he’s a Gryffindor but I’m a Slytherin so  _ naturally _ I’m more suspicious.” Adelaide said as she rolled her eyes. “You people piss me off.” Adelaide strode over to the Dormitories entrance. 

“Miss Fions,” Headmistress McGonagall said, Adelaide began to say the password. “MISS FIONS I AM ABOUT TO ASK FOR YOUR HELP!” Adelaide stopped and spun around.

“What?” Adelaide asked in complete shock.

“I understand that you are a talented and bright young witch,” Headmistress McGonagall said. “From what I’ve seen of you in class when I’ve inspected the various classrooms, you haven’t seemed to have to try with any of the spells you're learning. One minute, when the teacher walks to you, you look like you're struggling, the next minute, when the teacher walks away, you're performing the spell perfectly and you look bored. You are far more talented than you let on Miss Fions. So I am asking for your insight on what happened in the library since I was not there. After the longer walk I believe I can trust and that’s why I’m bringing this to your attention.”

“Honestly Headmistress, I have no clue what happened,” Adelaide lied. “One minute everything was perfectly normal, the next the lights went out and there was a scream. Then the lights came back on and the Slytherin girl was paralyzed on the floor. I have no clue.”

Headmistress McGonagall stared into Adelaide's eyes. Adelaide cursed herself in her head. She had mentioned that she remembered the victim was a Slytherin, if Headmistress McGonagall had caught that fact she’d know that Adelaide felt guilty for yesterdays events. Adelaide had a feeling Headmistress McGonagall had caught her slip up and knew she was lying.

“Very well,” Headmistress McGonagall said, “I would like you to look into all of this secretly so don’t let any professor know what I’ve put you up to. I assume you still have a way of sneaking around undetected.” Headmistress McGonagall winked at Adelaide. “Have a good night Miss Fions.” Headmistress McGonagall turned around, and then walked away.

Adelaide’s brain instantly came to two conclusions, Headmistress McGonagall knew about her invisibility cloak, and that’s why she never talked to Adelaide even when she had told professor Yail she would.

Adelaide said the password and entered Slytherin common rooms. It was empty, not a single soul was in the dormitory. She looked through the entire dormitory, but found no one. Adelaide sighed. Someone probably was stupid and dared the entire house to sneak around the school. Adelaide collapsed in her bed and fell asleep.

 

~

 

The professors stormed into Adelaide’s dormitory early in the morning. Adelaide groaned and fell out of bed.

“Adelaide Fions what the hell happened!” Professor Yail demanded.

“What do you mean?” Adelaide asked as she rubbed her eyes.

“Don’t blame her Yail, I watched the dormitories entrance all night after I dropped of Adelaide and not a single soul entered or left.” Headmistress McGonagall said. “Were all of the Slytherins missing when you arrived to the dormitory yesterday?”

“Yeah,” Adelaide said confusedly. “I just assumed they had been idiots and decided to try to walk around the school. That’s actually a very stupid conclusion now that I think about.”

“And you didn’t see anything?” Headmistress McGonagall said very seriously.

“Okay, what is going on,” Adelaide said tiredly.

“More than half of the Slytherins were found in the great hall this morning paralyzed the same way the first victim was,” Headmistress McGonagall said. “As far as we know they have one day to live.”


	9. Desperate Times Call for Separate Measures

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's a new chapter!

Adelaide was running. How long had she been running for? She couldn’t remember. She felt like she shouldn’t stop running, but why? What was she running from or towards? Why was she running again? She had a goal, she knew, but what was her goal? Was she just trying to hide? Was she trying to find someone? Where was she running to? How long had she been running for? Wait she had already asked that. Why couldn’t she remember anything...?

~

Adelaide shot straight up in bed. Sweat was dripping down her back. She looked around to find herself in the hospital wing. What had happened? Why was she here? Suddenly her memories came flooding back to her. The other Slytherins! She remembered the professors of Hogwarts coming into her dormitory and them telling her what happened, but she didn’t remember anything after that. Had she blacked out? That was the most logical explanation.

Adelaide climbed out of bed, grabbed the invisibility cloak that was sitting next to her, and went over to the door. There was no point in staying here. She needed to figure out exactly what was going on and how she could help, because she felt like this was somehow her fault. She couldn’t piece together how that many people could be paralyzed in a matter of hours, but whatever happened happened and she needed to figure out a way to reverse it.

Adelaide ran through the castle. No one was in sight. The school was on lockdown after all, and after last night all classes had most likely been canceled. Adelaide headed to the great hall where every teacher she knew of was standing around dozens of people lying on the floor. Adelaide snuck in, as quietly as she could, and hid underneath one of the house tables.

She looked around the room again. There seemed to be hundreds of mats, and bedsheets were draped over every one. There were so many. Adelaide’s felt like vomiting. All these people could die by the end of the day if she didn’t do something.

“What is the total count?” Headmistress McGonagall asked.

“Two hundred and thirty-seven students,” Professor Longbottom answered. “It seems some of the Slytherins were able to escape this fate, the other two Fions included. However we are unsure as to where they are hiding. Nitesh and Dax Fions are probably hiding themselves and the remaining Slytherins somewhere safe until the coast seems clear.”

Adelaide took a deep breath. Not everyone had fallen victim. A daub of relief flowed through Adelaide.

“We need to question each student and try to find out any information we can.” Headmistress McGonagall said. “We’ll start with Hufflepuff then Ravenclaw, and finally Gryffindor. Let’s move out.”

The professor’s turned around and headed towards the door. Headmistress McGonagall turned and looked directly at Adelaide as they past her. Adelaide held her breath. The Headmistress winked at her and kept walking.

Adelaide’s eyes widened. Gryffindor was last on the list meaning she could get to Luke before the professors made it to his dorm. Adelaide sprinted out of the great hall after the professors were out of sight, and to a secret passageway. She took a left which lead her out of that passageway and she quickly went into the closest next one.

She emerged in the Gryffindor common room after traveling through several passageways. The Gryffindors were gathered in a circle in the center of the room. She scanned the crowd and found Luke in an instant. Unfortunately he was on the other side of the room. Sure she had an invisibility cloak, but what good was it if she bumped into everyone.

Adelaide pulled up the hood anyway and went to the edge of the room. She edged her way towards him slowly, but surely. She was almost there, she could almost reach him. Her fingers wrapped around his sleeve and she tugged. Luke’s eyes narrowed as he looked in her direction quizzically. After a few seconds his eyes widened as he realized what was going on. He opened his arms and Adelaide shoved the other sweatshirt into them. Luke quickly put it on and pulled up the hood.

When Luke could see her he waved. She did as well. He followed her out of the common room and outside of the secret passageway.

“Okay what’s going on?” Luke asked quietly after they were a ways from Gryffindor tower. “We heard what happened last night, so how are you still alright?”

“I’m one of the few who made it out okay,” Adelaide replied. “That’s probably because everybody had been taken by the time I got back to my dormitory, I was too tired to think of a good explanation on why they were gone so I didn’t question anything.”

“Well I’m glad you’re alright,” Luke said, “for a second I thought you might die.”

“Well if we don’t do something a lot of people  _ are _ going to die.”

“How are we supposed to do anything? If we tell Headmistress McGonagall what we know maybe they’ll be able to figure something out, but just the two of us can’t do anything.”

“Are you giving up?”

“No I’m just being realistic for once. Think about it Adelaide, we’re second years, what are two second years supposed to do about this? We should just tell the professors and let them do their job.”

“I’m not going to let other people fix my mistakes.”

“What?”

“Conjuring a Horcrux Luke. I was the first one to touch the pin thus the Slytherins are the first to go. Depending on whether you, Jakob, or Cecillia touched it second, that house will be attacked next. I knew from the title I shouldn’t have touched that pin the moment I saw it, but something forced me to pick it up, this is my fault. We need to find a way to prolong every Slytherin’s death dates so we can figure out what’s going on.”

“Okay, but we're going to need more people than just the two of us.”

“Do you have anyone in mind?”

“Cecillia and Jakob.” The color drained from Adelaide’s face. “I understand you don’t want to see them, but they already have a basic idea of what’s going on so there the only option we have. On top of that, Cecillia will work with us even if she doesn’t want to, since it’s the best way to save her house from destruction.”

“Fine,” Adelaide said with a sigh, “we can grab them, but I only have two invisibility cloaks and both of their charms are getting low so we can only use them when absolutely necessary.” Adelaide pulled down her hood and so did Luke. “The professors are most likely at Ravenclaw by now, so we should grab Jakob, then Cecillia.”

Luke nodded. They headed up and down several flights of step and went through several hallways before they reached the Hufflepuff dormitory. Adelaide grabbed the paw of one of the badger statues outside, and twisted it.

A hole appeared in the wall. They climbed through the secret passageway, and into the Hufflepuff dormitory. When they exited Jakob was directly to there right. Adelaide wrapped her hand around his mouth and her other around his chest. Luke grabbed his legs and as quickly as possible the carried him through the secret passageway and back out to the hallway.

When they set him down he scrambled away from them and backed up to the wall.

"Who's there?" He asked nervously. Adelaide could see he was shaking.

Luke removed his hood. "It's alright," He said, "it's me."

"I know. You're acting as if I couldn't see you. The problem is that there's no way for me to be able to tell it's actually you," Jakob said as he reached into his robes.

"Expelliarmus." Adelaide said calmly as she drew her own wand. Jakob's wand flew out of his hand and skidded across the floor.

"That's not going to help convince him," Luke groaned. Adelaide pulled down her hood and she could feel her stomach drop as Jakobs face turned pale after he finally noticed she was there too. She bit her lip.

"I told you they wouldn't want to help," Adelaide said quietly.

"Who said he didn't want to help?" Luke asked. "So, Jakob, I- well we -have a request. We messed up, and Slytherin is the victim of that-"

"You mean I messed up," Adelaide said.

"No,  _ we _ , messed up," Luke said, "you're not the only one to blame here. The thing is we need your help and Cecillia's to try and expand the Slytherin's death date and find a cure. Unfortunately we don't have time to fill in the professor's and quite frankly I'm not looking forward to it, but we can't do this on our own, so  _ please _ help us."

"How did you mess up?" Jakob asked.

"Conjuring a Horcrux," Adelaide said, "I was the first one to touch the pin so Slytherin was the first to pay. Whatever that shadow was did this, we need to figure out what it was, but that comes later, for now we  _ have _ to find a way to expand the due date by the end of today."

"So every single Slytherin is unconscious but you?" Jakob asked. She could hear the suspicion in his voice.

"Not all," Adelaide said.

"Wait, what?" Luke said.

"Apparently my brothers were able to save some of us in the nick of time and are now in hiding, but that's only speculation from Professor Longbottom, since all of them have disappeared."

"So we're going to save most of the Slytherins?" Jakob asked as he climbed to his feet.

"Yeah-wait...your in?" Luke asked hopefully. Jakob nodded. "Yes! See? What did I tell you Adelaide? they would love to join up with us!"

"Yay," Adelaide said unenthusiastically. She swallowed. She was happy for the help, but something in the back of her head kept eating away at her, and the fact that she didn’t know what it was put her on edge.

"Let's go get Cecillia!" Luke said with a bright smile.

"Wait, so you  _ are _ grabbing Cecillia too?" Jakob said. Luke nodded. "You know she's going to get really mad when she figures out you've been hanging out with Adelaide right?"

"Yeah...How did you figure out that we’ve been hanging out?"

"It was the best solution on why you seemed to be getting along better with each other and you two seemed to know how the other one thinks better now."

"We do?" Adelaide asked. Luke and her looked at each other quizzically.

"It just seemed like it to me, I could be wrong." Jakob said.

"You should probably wear this," Luke said as he took of his sweatshirt. He had said that  _ too _ quickly. Had he been desperate to change the subject? "You can be clumsy."

"What does it do?" Jakob asked.

"It has an invisibility charm."

"I don't mean to accuse you Luke, but I was able to see the both of you. It doesn't have an invisibility charm."

"You were also able to see me when I was wearing it, while holding the pin from Conjuring a Horcrux. You may have not have seen the pin, since it was in my hand, but that's what I was doing. I was invisible then, and no one else but you could see me." Adelaide said.

"If I could see through invisibility, I'm pretty sure I'd know." 

"Maybe, but invisibility cloaks are rare, even the invisibility on these doesn’t last forever, they have limit for how long they can be used." Adelaide said.

"Whatever you say," Jakob put on the sweatshirt but to Adelaide he didn't sound convinced.

"If you want to activate the charm pull up the hood, but use it sparingly because the charm could run out any minute." Adelaide said. Jakob nodded. "Okay, let's head out and grab Cecillia, which like Luke, I'm not exactly excited for."

Getting to Ravenclaw tower was a steady and slow process since not all of them had an invisibility cloak. Whenever Adelaide sensed a professor coming they ducked behind statues and various other objects. The first time she had sensed them Luke had been wide eyed, because, she assumed, he didn't know it was possible to sense another wizard. She told him it was possible, but it took a lot of practice to be able to do. She didn't say however, that it had taken her seven years to perfect.

When they finally did reach Ravenclaw tower they ran into a problem.

"I don't know a secret passageway that lets you into Ravenclaw tower," Adelaide admitted.

"It's not actually that hard to get in," Jakob said. "It's you and I going in right?" Adelaide nodded and he pulled up his hood. She did the same.

"What must you add to every spell to have minimum power." The portrait asked. Minimum power? Adelaide didn't know there was a way to do that she only knew how to maximize the power.

"Minima, like maxima, you would use it by saying, ‘ _ lumosminima _ ,’" Jakob answered.

The portrait swung opened. Luke hid behind the portrait as Jakob and her climbed through the portrait hole and into Ravenclaw common room.

When they emerged into the common room, the fire was lit, and all of the Ravenclaw members were gathered, including several professors. Adelaide spotted Cecillia and tried to move towards her, but Jakob grabbed her shoulder and shook his head. He moved towards Cecillia instead, as Adelaide stood there.

She saw Jakob grab Cecillia and say something quickly. Cecillia nodded and looked back at the professors. They were distracted. Cecillia and Jakob slowly backed away from everyone else. Adelaide began to back up as well. She climbed through the portrait hole and back outside the common room. She saw Jakob and Cecillia make it to the portrait hole before turning around and scrambling out.

"Where are you Jakob?" Cecillia asked.

"I'm right here." He said.

"I already told you you're the only one who can see through the invisibility cloaks," Adelaide said as she pulled of her hood. Cecilia's jaw dropped and her eyes widened. In an instant she had her wand out and pointed at Adelaide. "Lovely." Adelaide said as she sighed. The portrait shut and Luke stepped between them.

"Back down Cecillia," Luke said.

"You good for nothing  _ liar _ !" Cecillia yelled. "You were hanging out with her I knew it! I asked if you were and yet you said that you weren’t over and over again! What is this about? and Why are Jakob and I here?" They explained what was happening to her as quickly as possible. "Deal with it yourself, it's your problem and currently I-don't-care!"

"I told you she'd be angry," Jakob muttered to Adelaide and Luke.

"Damn right I'm angry! Why are you even going along with this Jakob? What did Adelaide ever do to you that made you want to help her? Oh right, bad things like turning her back!" Adelaide stared at her feet.

"There still human lives Cecillia!" Jakob yelled. Adelaide saw Luke turned and looked at him. "Even if you don't get along with Adelaide, lives are still on the line! We need to help despite what we think or what grudges we have, because if we don't figure out something eventually everyone is going to die! I for one do  _ not _ want to be responsible for that sort of massacre!"

Cecillia’s shoulder dropped and she stared at the ground. "Okay...I'll help." A smile spread across Luke’s face. "Where do we start?" She turned and looked at Adelaide.

"I don't know." Adelaide said.

"So you're asking for our help you don't have a clue?" Cecillia said exasperatedly.

"If I had all the answers I wouldn't be asking for you help," Adelaide said.

Cecillia rolled her eyes. "Well there must be some lead, and lead that the book has."

"I've looked it over dozens of times and I haven't found anything useful." 

"That's because you haven't figured out any of the hidden messages yet. The first thing we should do is get away from here. Since quite a few professors are inside doing checks on everyone and my sudden disappearance before I've been cleared will raise some suspicion." 

They began to descend the steps and walk the halls as Cecillia whispered to them. "First of all the title. How would you conjure a horcrux? You wouldn't we know that, but what if the title is just to mislead you? What if the pin has nothing to do with horcrux'?"

"That makes no sense, I kind of thought the pin was a horcrux." Luke said.

"But that's what whoever created the book wants you to think! There trying to lead us off to dead end, I have a feeling the answer is a lot simpler than were making it out to be."

"Of course," Adelaide said. She randomly took a right and they followed.

"Did you think of something?" Cecillia asked.

"Everything we think is wrong," Adelaide explained. "All the way down to the shape of the shadow. I don't doubt that it's an animal, but you've seen it as a snake right?" They nodded. "What if there's a person controlling whatever it is and they just change it's shape...wait no." Adelaide stopped moving. "It might be an Animagus."

"That wouldn't work.” Cecillia said bluntly. "I mean I see what your getting at, but how would that even work? How would somebody be able to be that weird shadow without anyone able to see them?"

"I don't know, but what other explanation is there?"

"Wait what's an Animagus?" Luke asked. Adelaide slapped her forehead. How did he not know?

"An Animagus is someone who can transform into an animal." Cecillia explained. "Adelaide it's possible someone is controlling one of the creatures from the forbidden forest, but all of those answers just seem too simple." Adelaide and Cecillia stared at each other for a while. Suddenly their eyes widened

"Library?" Adelaide asked.

"Library." Cecillia confirmed.

They reached the library, and immediately both Adelaide and Cecillia went into the restricted section. They had the same idea and they needed to make sure they were right. 

Adelaide and Cecillia pulled out a book title,  _ Charming Mythical Creatures _ . Cecillia and Adelaide made eye contact and smiled at one another wickedly. Why would this be in the restricted section? They flipped open the book and began to read as Jakob and Luke just stood there while have no clue on what was going on.

_ While being able to control any mythical creature is hard, _ The book read,  _ controlling a boggart's actions and what shape it takes is even harder. You charm a boggart like any other mythical creature by using the regular spell you would use to control a mythical creature (see p. 2), however to control what form a boggart takes, you must control it by using one of the three unforgivable curses. _

"I think we found our problem." Adelaide said. 

"That's the best explanation it seems." Cecillia said. "But why would someone do such a thing?"

"Maybe they didn't mean to use it on us. They may have lost control of the boggart and the curse is having after effects."

"That is a great observation. Where would it hide though?" They looked at each other and again the same thought occurred to them.. 

"The forbidden forest," They said in unison.

"Please tell me we're not going in there," Jakob said.

They turned and looked at him. "What on earth would make think we weren't?" Cecillia said with a straight face. Smiles crept across Cecillia and Adelaide's faces. A fire lit in Adelaide's eyes, and she beamed into Cecillia's. Guilt suddenly crashed through Adelaide, and she felt like her heart was being rung out like a towel. Adelaide dropped Cecillia's gaze and looked away. Cecillia seemed to remember that she didn't like Adelaide and did the same.

"This is going to be a  _ long _ day," Luke said. His sigh reverberated through the shelves, as Adelaide reminded herself of who she was. 

She was Adelaide Fions, of the noble Fions family, she was expected to be the most successful successor of her family line. Anyone who dares get close to her will get hurt. Just like him, just like the boy who was completely innocent. She already decided she wouldn’t love, and she wouldn’t make any lasting connections while in Hogwarts. She just needed to remember what happened last time she dared to have friends. They were killed. Her mother killed them.  _ Eliminate all emotions towards other and you won’t get hurt _ , was her mother’s motto and she had followed it her entire life. So why was it becoming so difficult not to love all of a sudden?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well hope you liked it. All of my other chapters I moved from Wattpad so this entire thing is shifted here, that's why there aren't any notes by any of the other chapters.
> 
> Thank you for reading and I look forward for any feedback you might have!


	10. A Broken Fall

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ey peeps! Have another chapter!

"Why did we think this was a good idea again?" Jakob asked.

  
Adelaide and the others were standing outside the forbidden forest. The day was sunny and hot, yet the forest was pitch black. Adelaide shifted from foot to foot. It was in the middle of the day, so Adelaide was able to relate to Jakob’s nervousness from the unnatural darkness. Adelaide was certain the darkness was a sign that what they were looking for was inside. However, she wasn’t sure she really wanted to figure out if Cecillia and her were right.

  
"Let's go," Cecillia said. Jakob groaned but followed them inside. "Remember the boggart could be anything so watch out and trust nothing and no one, but ourselves."

  
They slowly traveled through the woods taking one step at a time. There was nothing. Out of the woods giant spiders and scorpions would randomly show up, they would use a quick spell and then voila, it was taken care of.

  
A pit formed in Adelaide's stomach. Something was wrong, she should have been able to tell if there was a strong magic nearby by now. She shoved Luke, Jakob, and Cecillia into a pile of leaves and sticks.

  
"What are you-" Cecillia began.

  
"Shh!" Adelaide said. She turned to see Nitesh run out of the trees. He growled and kicked a tree. "Hey."

  
"Adelaide?" Nitesh said exasperatedly. Why was he out of breath? "Great do you know a way out of...wherever we are because I've been running in a circle for the past twenty minutes."

  
"First tell me, what happened last night?"

  
"You mean with the snake? Well you know how Dax has been secretly learning how to evaporate from mom? He was able to evaporate a few of us out, only he can't do it all that well yet and I got split up from them."

  
"Uh-huh," Adelaide wasn't convinced. "What's mom's motto?" Adelaide didn't want him to say what it was, but she figured Nit would know. So it was the best way to tell if it was him.

  
"Why the bloody hell are you asking all of these questions? Just tell me how to get back to Hogwarts!"

  
She snickered. Adelaide thought he didn't know where they were? How would he know they were even close to Hogwart? "Avada Kedavra!" Nitesh toppled over and hay flew everywhere. Then he was gone. "See wasn't him."

 

Cecillia, Jakob, and Luke climbed out of their hiding place. "What on earth gave you the idea that you could use the killing curse?" Luke yelled.

  
"Is there something wrong with that?" Adelaide asked.

  
"Everything is wrong with that!" Luke seemed to be on the verge of screaming.

  
Adelaide took a step away from him. What was his problem? "I don't see the issue in using the curse Luke." She said truthfully. "I really don't get what you're so irritated about. I'm sorry if that was offensive in any way, I didn't know."

  
Silence. "You are so unaware it's almost cute." Cecillia said, "but at the same time it's also terrifying."

  
There was a loud crack, and the ground split in half forming a wide valley. Cecillia, Luke, and Adelaide jumped to the side. Jakob stumbled backward. He tripped.

He began to fall into valley and landed on one of the ledges. There was another cracking noise, only a little quieter, as his leg snapped beneath his weight. He cried out in pain.

 

The ledge Jakob had landed on started to crumble. He scrambled to the side of the valley as fast as he could with a broken leg and grabbed one of the ledges.

  
"Hang on!" Luke yelled Cecillia and him ran over to the ledge and looked down at him. Jakob's began to slip.

  
"We have to do something!" Luke yelled, "Adelaide-"

  
Adelaide jumped down to a large ledge below. She climbed the valley wall over to where she'd be right above him. There was nowhere for her to get down to him.

  
"Give me your hand!" Adelaide yelled at him as she stretched out her arm to him. There was another loud cracking sound and the entire wall began to shake. Jakob's first hand slipped.

  
"No way in hell!" Jakob yelled as he risked a look at the valley below. There was nothing but darkness. "How am I supposed to trust you? You could just make my situation worse if you wanted to!"

  
"Please," Adelaide extended her hand as far as she could. "I know I'm not trustworthy I get it, but I want to help. So please just-just trust me." Jakob looked up into her eyes and back to the valley wall. "I'm sorry! Okay? I made a mistake, but please! I don't want you to die. Yet in this situation, I can't do anything but ask you to trust me, please...just this once!"

  
Jakob took a deep breath and swung his hand up to her. Their fingers met and she grabbed his hand. The wall shook again.

Jakob's other hand slipped. He was dangling over the abyss and Adelaide began to lose her grip on the wall. She tried desperately to pull him up. He was almost to where he could grab onto something. The wall shook again.

Adelaide's foot caught her own leg as she tried to regain her balance and she tripped. They fell down into the dark abyss below.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yeah...the next chapter should come out soon since over NaNoWriMo I was able to write it but...editing. Any way all of these characters are such smoll beans I'm worried about there safety...also has anyone else notice that the entire world seems to be against Jakob? I have...just think on that.


	11. You Can Bleed?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's another chapter! :)

They were falling fast, and Adelaide was so confused. She didn't understand why Luke had yelled at her and been so upset for using the killing curse. What other spells should she have used? Nothing is as effective so what should she have done? 

She could feel Jakob's hand begin to sweat as he gripped her hand even tighter. At least he was still okay, but what if they didn't stop falling? Heck what if they reached the bottom, but it was so far down the fall ended up killing them? Jakob's arm began to tremble and Adelaide assumed he was thinking the same thing.

Jakob seemed to say something but the wind was blowing so loudly in Adelaide's ears she couldn’t hear him. Thump! She hit the ground and groaned. Jakob must have been trying to warn her that the ground was approaching. She rolled onto her back and sighed in relief. They were still alive, that was a good sign.

A rock fell from the wall and landed next to her. Was that someone's voice? Adelaide stood up and strained to hear something, anything. She was briefly able to hear their names being called. 

"That was Luke," Jakob said as he shakily climbed to his feet and looked up the wall. He limped over and looked like he was trying to find a way to climb.

"You can tell? It might be Cecillia." 

"No it's Luke's voice, there's a distinct difference. You can hear it too right?"

Adelaide shook her head. At least she couldn't hear clearly enough to tell who's voice it was.

Adelaide took a step back from the wall and looked around them. It was a barren wasteland down there. She couldn't see anything and there was nothing but an endless tunnel in both directions.

"We should go left," Jakob said after he gave up on climbing the wall.

"Why?"

"Good feeling."

"We're going to entrust our safety to a good feeling?" Adelaide asked. Jakob shrugged. "Whatever." 

They walked in silence as they began to slowly move down the passageway. "So...Do you like to read?" Adelaide felt  _ so _ awkward, she hadn't wanted to end up traveling without Luke since he could make things feel less awkward with a single joke. Yet there they were, so she might as well try to make some sort of conversation.

"No," Jakob replied. Adelaide guessed that was the end of that conversation, but he continued. "I only like a select few books. Such as  those muggle books, um, Lord of the Rings I think it was called. They were pretty good book, they just took a while to read. But don't you dare give Cecillia the idea of forcing me to read the second book of the muggle series "Matched". There her favorite books, and oh my word the Protagonist is  _ so _ whiny. Cecillia keeps telling me, that she gets better in the next two books, but I seriously doubt it."

"Are you a pureblood?" Adelaide asked.

"Why does it matter?" Jakob stopped walking.

"It doesn't," Adelaide said quickly to reassure him. "You just said muggle series. Normally that's how purebloods refer to things so I was just curious."

"I'm...sort of a pure blood."

"What is ‘sort of’ supposed to mean? Are you half-blood?"

"No."

"Muggle-born?"

"No...”

"Then-"

"I'm not anything alright!"

"You're acting as if you're not any, but that's impossible, because even if you weren't entirely human, such as a werewolf, you'd still be either a pureblood, a half-blood, or a mudblood."

"I'm not any of those Adelaide. I'm sorry if that doesn't make sense. The closest thing I am to your classifications is a pure-blood so that's what I go with. I'd appreciate it if we dropped the subject."

"Have you told Cecillia and Luke that?”

"No way," Jakob had almost seemed to laugh. "They would never drop the subject. They wouldn’t stop bothering me until they got an answer. Anyway, let's keep moving-"

"I want to know what you are."

"Why?"

"Because it's uncomfortable to not know."

"You don't care so why should I tell you?"

"What makes you think I wouldn't care?" Jakob let out a small laugh. He shook his head and began to walk. Adelaide reached out and grabbed his wrist. "I want an answer, Jakob."

"Adelaide?" Adelaide whipped around and pulled out her wand. Another Nitesh, lovely. "Do you mind putting that away?"

"Yes actually. I've already dealt with one fake Nitesh today, I don't want to deal with another one."

"You caught me, bang, bang?" Nitesh said hopefully. Adelaide didn't move.

"Mom's motto,"

"You mean, Eliminate all emotions towards other and you won't get hurt or the dark lord-"

"That's not a good enough question, I want a name of two years ago."

"A name? Um...Are, you...talking about...um...Kai?" A pit formed in Adelaide's stomach. She started to desperately try to keep her eyes from filling with tears.

"What else..."

"Bloody hell are you going to ask me to read you mind next? Why do you keep asking so many questions?"

"Perfect, what question am I thinking of?"

Nitesh stared at her in disbelief. "I don't know! Your birthday?" She lowered her wand. "Wait did I actually guess it?"

"No, I wasn't thinking of anything, but only you are capable of coming up with the blandest question imaginable."

"Thanks," Nit said sarcastically as he let his eyes drift over to Jakob. "Wait...that's-"

"Jakob."

"Yeah...um...He's friends with that Gryffindor you've been hanging out with right?"

"Yea-How do you know about that?" Adelaide practically screamed the question as she whipped her wand back up to his throat.

"Adelaide, I'm your older brother. It's my job to know these things. And no, Dax doesn't know about it, only me." Adelaide didn't move. "You do know I don't care in the slightest right? Mom will be absolutely furious if she figures out, though."

"I know, kind of the point in keeping it secret."

"I don't care about you talking to the Gryffindor, do whatever makes you happy, but that Hufflepuff could kill you in a moment if he wanted to. So I'm going to ask you to back away from him."

Adelaide laughed. "What on earth would make you think he'd be capable of such a thing? He would never have the stomach to kill anyone-" Adelaide stopped. Luke and Cecillia had been seriously unsettled when she used the killing curse on the fake Nitesh, but why hadn't Jakob seemed to care? He hadn't even look disturbed.

"Do you know why he's Dax and my errand boy, as most people say? Because we're the only people besides the Headmistress and a select few in the ministry who know what, he truly is. We could tell the whole school if we wanted to. Both of his friends would turn around and run if they knew."

"You're not making any sense Nitesh."

"He's a-"

"SHUT UP!" Jakob yelled.

"She's my sister, if I want her to know because I'm worried for her safety I can tell her. It doesn't fall into the criteria of our deal."

"Yes, it does. Because I see her as a friend."

Adelaide's jaw dropped and her eyes widened. "Wha-what?" She said in a high pitch squeal. How did he see her as a friend?

Nit's eyes narrowed. "Luke trusts her," Jakob said, "and if he trusts her I can trust her too."

Nit rolled his eyes. "It's your decision, Adelaide. Do you want to know or not? I'll respect your wishes."

Adelaide looked at Jakob. His eyes were desperate. She could tell he didn't want her or anyone else to know, he was terrified of people knowing. Adelaide shook her head. "I don't want to know, not yet."

Jakob sighed in relief. Nit shrugged. "If you're sure. I'll tell you anytime you want to know." Adelaide didn't think she'd ever take him up on his offer, but it was good to know she had resources.

"We should head for Hogwarts," Adelaide said. "Unless you know where Dax and the other Slytherins are?"

"Yeah what happened last night?" Nit asked. "I remember a big shadow and screams. Dax ran into my room and told everyone to grab onto him. We did and he evaporated us out of the castle, or he tried to. Something interfered with us getting out and everything just went black."

"I'm not entirely sure myself, I only know that unless we can find a way to postpone the Slytherins due date, almost all of our entire house is going to die. We came here looking for the solution because we had an idea, but I'm not sure where it would be. Not only that but the four of us got split up and something is giving me a feeling we should go to Hogwarts."

"If you think that's the solution," Nit said.

"Do you actually know what you're doing Adelaide?" Jakob asked.

"You do know who our mom is right? Like the head of the Fions family?" Nit asked. Jakob nodded. "Well, the rumors about her uncanny sense of having a “feeling” that tells us what to do was passed down to Adelaide, only Adelaide's sense is ten times more efficient."

Adelaide's cheeks turned red. "No, it's not!"

"If you wanted to in a few years you could probably beat mom in a fight without trying. The only thing I'm worried about is she says you could be stronger than the dark lord once your power "awakens" whatever the heck that means."

"What does she get high on again?"

Nitesh began to laugh. "Nothing, but she does definitely gloat a lot more than I think would be possible. No offense, but what she said is impossible."

"You're right," Adelaide said. At least she hoped he was right. Something inside of her seemed to move. She swallowed. If her mother was right, she'd be terrified of herself, sure she might not have to use a wand to perform spells all the time, but she still needed it for almost everything she did.

They began to walk down the passageway again. Adelaide began to wonder why Nit seemed happier than usual.

"Did you hit your head Nit?" Adelaide asked.

"What would make you think that?" He asked.

"You seem happy."

"Is that a problem?"

"No, just isn't really like you. I mean you're always with Dax so I guess you can only be so happy around him since it's, well, him!"

"I wouldn't say I agree with everything Dax does, but as long as I'm around him I don't have to make the effort of meeting new people. It just makes my life easier."

"Don't tell him that!" Adelaide said. "He'd murder you if he knew that was why."

"Oh he already knows," Adelaide raised her eyebrows. "I already told you. Older siblings, it's our job to know these sort of things and to know what our younger siblings are feeling. Just be glad that Dax believes you're perfectly capable of taking care of yourself and doesn't worry about what you're doing. I do so that's why I know about the Gryffindor." Adelaide glared at him. "I already told you I don't care, just be careful about mom, you know what happened last time you were hanging out with someone she would never allow you to associate with normally."

"You don't have to remind me," Adelaide muttered.

"What happened?" Jakob asked.

"Nothing," Adelaide said quickly. "It was just...a parent issue."

"That's an understatement," Nit snorted.

"Nitesh Fions I don't want them to know about that!" Adelaide hissed.

"That is understandable, but that was a huge understatement." Sometimes Adelaide couldn't tell if her brother was nice or one of the most stereotypical Slytherins out there.

"Whatever, you gave me a pass on my secret so I'll give you one on yours," Jakob said. And sometimes Adelaide loved her new found friends understanding. "When do you think we'll reach school?"

"Around this corner," Nitesh said. Adelaide and Jakob looked at him. "I'm totally making that up I have no clue." Adelaide rolled her eyes and they kept walking.

A ceiling formed over them as they rounded the corner. They stopped walking as soon as Jakob ran into a wooden door.

"Maybe I'm not the only one this uncanny sense of feeling," Adelaide whispered to Nit.

Jakob fell to the ground and gripped his nose. Blood ran out of his nose and into his mouth.

"Ow!" 

"You can bleed! I was wondering if you could." Nitesh said.

"Okay, what would make you think I wouldn't bleed? I'm still human!" Jakob yelled.

Adelaide was even more confused now. She opened the door and peeked inside. There was a staircase that led up somewhere. She began to climb the stairs before she even thought about getting the others say in the matter. Jakob and Nitesh followed without question. 

Adelaide reached another door and reach for the handle. The door flew open and a body toppled into her and the two of them began to fall down the steps.

 

...

 

"Adelaide, Jakob!" Luke called into the valley again. There was no reply.

"They can't hear you, Luke," Cecillia said. Luke had been calling their names for several minutes now and every time there had been no reply. He had never expected one, for all he knew they may have not even reached the bottom yet. Not only that, but he might not be able to hear them if they tried to call back. More accurately if Jakob called back because that man had the ears of a hound. "Let's just head back to school Luke, please. There's nothing else we can do. We should go back and find help. I know they'll be the big explanation, but they will let it wait for later if students are in danger and we tell them it will take several minutes that we can’t spare. So let's go!"

Luke climbed up the valley from the little ledge he had been standing on. She had a good point and he knew it would be idiotic to say no.

"Okay, let's head back."

Luckily they hadn't gone too far into the forest so it was easy to find there way back out. They sprinted up the grounds and to the school. Now it was just a matter of talking to the right person. He thought of two people. Headmistress McGonagall or Professor Longbottom. In the end, he decided he would go and talk to Professor Longbottom.

"Let's head to the greenhouse," Luke said. Cecillia agreed.

"Why do you trust Adelaide so much?" Cecillia asked as they fast walked towards the greenhouse. "I don't see any reason you should trust her."

"I told you about the night we snuck out of our common rooms and I met her right?" Luke asked. Cecillia nodded. "Well, I don't know, I guess she just was really motivated to make a difference, I kind of admire her for that. When I started talking about how astonished I was she was a Slytherin and how I didn't want to owe her anything she got so uppity about it I got really pissed off and I just wanted her to shut up so I gave her the essay she wanted.

"When she started yelling at me for the second time in the quidditch arena about how she wasn't going to return the essay I thought,  _ typical Slytherin _ . But the next day when I went to potions class she was waiting outside the classroom for me. She had taken time out of her night to help me by copying down your essay, and honestly, I didn't mention it, but she looked exhausted. I don't even know if she got any sleep. I don't know if that's a stupid reason to trust her, but she really proved to me not all Slytherins were the same, and I was really impressed by that. She was able to change what a thick headed numbskull like me could think, so why can't she change that for everyone?"

"That is a stupid reason," Cecillia said after a few seconds of silence. "Especially since you still trusted her after she completely turned her back on Jakob when her brothers were the ones hurting him. She could have stopped it and you know that."

"You're right she could have, but do we know what goes on in her family?" Luke asked. "No, we don't. Do we have a right to judge how she acts when we don't even know what she deals with every day? She's different from a normal Slytherin, but from what I've seen her brothers are the very epitome of normal Slytherins."

"Fair point, but still, it's hard for me to trust someone who has already betrayed me once."

"I don't blame you at all, for wanting to avoid her. Just know I'm going to trust her, but I'll be sad if that gets in the way of our friendship because you feel personally offended or something."

"It won't, I'm just pissed you didn't feel like you could tell me about this. I get that I can get angry, but really? I was just worried about you falling behind on your homework because you're off, who knows where, on an adventure or something. Like now actually."

"And where do you two think you're going?" Professor Longbottom asked as he stepped out of the greenhouse.

"We were talking so much we almost missed you!" Luke said exasperatedly. "We need your help and we don't really have time to explain because Adelaide and Jakob are in the bottom of a valley in the middle of the forbidden forest. And I know the name practically says were not allowed in there, but what else were we supposed to do when we didn't have time to explain to you what has been going on? We were going to tell you as soon as we found a way to expand the death date of the Slytherin house, though."

"Wait you know what's going on and you didn't tell us when we came around each house?"

"I was gone from my house at that point, Jakob didn't know that he knew what was going on before we grabbed him, and we grabbed Cecillia right before you talked to her so yeah."

"That doesn't prove your innocence at all Mr. Velitick," Professor Longbottom said.

"I'm not trying to prove my innocence because I'm not innocent, we just desperately need your help."

"I don't think he's going to listen to us Luke," Cecillia muttered.

"Very accurate Miss Amari, I'm going to take you two to see the headmistress."

"What about we don't have time do you NOT UNDERSTAND?" Luke yelled.

"What do you not have time for?" Headmistress McGonagall asked.

Professor Longbottom was about to say something but Luke intercepted and told her what he had told Longbottom as fast as he could.

"And you were going to come to me before inspecting this?" Headmistress McGonagall asked Professor Longbottom. "Student lives could be at risk."

"My apologies headmistress." Professor Longbottom said.

"I have a feeling I know how we can reach them quicker than going back to the forest, however," Headmistress McGonagall said. They followed her through the castle and to a door.

"It's a door," Luke said.

"A door that appeared only a few minutes before I ran into you, I was actually going to grab Mr. Longbottom so he could help me inspect it. However if what you say about that valley randomly appearing is true then I assume this door leads to it."

"What are we waiting for then," Luke asked. He ran over to the door and reached out for the handle.

"Luke wait! we don't know where that go-" Cecillia yelled. Luke whipped open the door, slipped, and fell straight into Adelaide.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> UUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGHHHHH!!! The second day in a row that I have posted my fellow wizards and witches, and once again I have been reminded that I hate editing! Editing is probably the worst part of writing these chapters one at a time because I read it through at least three times. I don't have a question for this chapter but I'm planning to have one for each chapter in the future if I can. ;)


	12. The Rest Before the Storm

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CHAPTER!!!!

Adelaide felt Nit’s arms as he caught Luke and her before they plummeted down the dozens of steps Jakob, Nit, and her had just climbed.

"Adelaide!" Luke yelled happily.

Adelaide sighed in relief. "Get off of me," She muttered.

"Sorry," Luke said. Nitesh helped him to his feet. “Thanks,” Luke made eye contact with Nit and his jaw dropped. "Your Nitesh Fions."

"Um..." Jakob said quietly.

"Yes, and Veiltick?" Nit asked.

"I-" Luke started.

"Ah Nitesh Fions, I'm glad to see you're alright," Headmistress McGonagall said. "Where is your brother and the other Slytherins who made it out alright?"

"No clue," Nit said. "The school barriers kept us from evaporating out and well...Something was wrong with them, as a result, they sent us to random places. I don't know where anyone else is."

"Excuse-" Jakob said a little louder.

"At least you're alright,” Headmistress McGonagall said.

"Yeah, I'm happy," Luke said sarcastically. To Adelaide, he looked anything but happy.

"EXCUSE ME I MAY HAVE A BROKEN LEG!" Jakob yelled. Crap, Adelaide had completely forgotten. Everyone turned and looked at him. Jakob was using the wall as a crutch and he was only leaning on his good leg. How had he even managed to get up the stairs?

"Thank you for helping me up the steps Nitesh, I wouldn't have managed to do so on my own," Jakob said as if he had read Adelaide's mind. "But now I would really like some morphine before I start screaming from the pain I've been enduring."

Adelaide draped his arm over her shoulder and helped him up the 

remaining few steps. They decided to bring him to the hospital and on the way Headmistress McGonagall asked Adelaide what she had found out and Adelaide explained everything.

When they opened the doors to the hospital wing Madam Pomfrey bolted towards us. "It's a miracle Headmistress McGonagall! The Slytherins are in a stable condition. It doesn't look like anyone is in danger anymore, they’re just unconscious."

"What did you manage to do in the forbidden forest?" Headmistress McGonagall asked Adelaide.

"Nothing," Adelaide said in disbelief. "Absolutely nothing, it was just a waste of time." Adelaide's head was running through every possible idea. What had they done? What could have possibly postponed the due date? None of the explanations she thought of made any sense now and she was thoroughly confused.

Madam Pomfrey led them over to the Slytherins. No one seemed to be sick the Slytherins only looked like they were sleeping.

"Yay, their pain is gone," Jakob said unenthusiastically. His voice was becoming very weak. "I'm still desperately in need of medical attention, please!"

Madam Pomfrey turned and finally noticed he was being supported by Adelaide. "Oh, my!" She said. "I'm so sorry dear, I didn't even notice you!"

"It's no problem," Jakob said, “it happens a lot.” Adelaide raised an eyebrow at him. She wondered if that had something to do with what Nit had been talking about.

Madam Pomfrey brought Jakob over to one of the free beds and laid him down. She placed her wand on his leg and used a spell. She then gave him some sort of drink. The best part was the disgusted faces Jakob made as he drank.

"You'll have to stay here tonight," Madam Pomfrey said when he had finished drinking. He laid back on the pillow and nodded. Cecillia, Luke, Nitesh, and Adelaide, were lead out of the room by the professor and the Headmistress and towards their respective dormitories.

"I believe Nitesh and Adelaide Fions should not sleep in their dormitory tonight, and judging by how Adelaide was able to grab people from three houses without knowing the passcodes I imagine it won't be a problem." Headmistress McGonagall said.

"Do I have to sleep in a different houses dormitory?" Nit asked disgustedly.

“You may sleep in the head of your House's office, I'm sure he won't mind,” Headmistress McGonagall said.

Nit nodded. “Are you coming too, Adelaide?" He asked.

"I don't see why I wouldn-" Adelaide said.

"She sleeping in the Ravenclaw dormitory, sorry," Cecillia said quickly. Adelaide and Luke's eyes widened and they glanced at each other. 

"What? We have a spare bed in the girl's part of our dormitory and it just so happens to be the one next to mine. It's better than sleeping in a grubby old office anyway." Cecillia winked at Adelaide.

The headmistress nodded to show her consent. "Professor Longbottom will escort you to where you will be sleeping Nitesh," Headmistress McGonagall said. Nitesh followed the professor willingly.

Headmistress McGonagall brought the remaining three students to the Ravenclaw dormitory and then left with Luke to go to Gryffindor Tower. Cecillia opened the portrait hole to the Ravenclaw dorm and they entered.

"Cecillia there you are, I was starting to become really worried." A small girl with long dirty blonde hair, pale blue eyes, and pale skin said. Adelaide guessed she was a first year since her tie was still messily tied.

"Sorry, Hana," Cecillia said. "Adelaide this is Luke's little sister Hana. Hana this is Adelaide, she's staying with us for the night due to Headmistress McGonagall's request."

"Oh Luke's talked about you," She said. "We get together every once in awhile, but he told me not to tell Cecilia he was hanging out with you. I guess it's fine now that she knows, though."

"He didn't say anything bad," Hana said quickly after she had paused. "He said you were really cool and completely different from what normal people think of Slytherins. He said you were really smart too. He also said he was surprised you didn't have a boyfriend yet. He also mentioned that you're very moody, so he warned me not to make you angry, and…”

What had Luke told this girl exactly? Was it a compliment that he had mentioned her, or should she be insulted?

"We should head upstairs," Cecillia whispered to Adelaide. "It was great to talk to you Hana, but we've been through a lot today and I'd really like to get to bed." Cecillia grabbed Adelaide's hand, dragged her out of the room, and to the bedroom.

She led Adelaide over to the spare bed and Adelaide laid down.

"So..." Cecillia said. "The great Fions family. What's it like being one of them?"

"Why do you want to know?"

"Curiosity. I'm also curious as to why you haven't told Luke about your social standing in the wizarding world yet."

"Doesn't he know already?"

Cecillia's eyes widened and she blinked a few times. "He's quite oblivious I don't think he's put one and two together yet." She said. 

“Well, I’d rather not talk about it.”

Cecillia sighed, stood up, grabbed a blue dress with white sequins, and laid it on her bed. She then placed two different containers of eyeshadow on the dress. “Which one?”

"Why do you care?"

"Because it matters darling.” There was a pause. “You do wear makeup right?” Adelaide shook her head and Cecillia’s jaw dropped. “Okay, please tell me you have at least one container of makeup.” Adelaide nodded and Cecillia sighed in relief. “For a second I thought you had never even touched a makeup container and I thought I might faint.”

“Over dramatic much,”

“Excuse me, my name is Cecillia Overdramatic Amari. Please address me as so.” Cecillia pressed the back of her hand on her forehead and flopped onto her bed as if she had fainted. They paused. Cecillia shot straight up. 

“Anyway, do you know a guy by the name of Cain? He's another Ravenclaw.”

“Why do you think I know him?” 

“I didn't expect you to I was just curious.” They went silent. “Long story short he's my boyfriend.”

“Okay, I don't really see the point in me knowing this. I don't have a love life.”

Cecillia stared at her in disbelief. “I know Hana said you don't have a boyfriend but, you must have one person you're thinking about at school.” Adelaide shook her head. “Back at home?” Adelaide shook her head again. “Who then?”

They went silent. “I had someone I was interested in, but he-” Adelaide paused. “He left, his family moved to America and he had to transfer to Ilvemorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.” 

“What was his name?”

“Can we not talk about this?”

Cecillia shrugged. “Okay, what's your family like?”

“I'm never going to win am I?” Adelaide said and Cecillia smiled. “Your average Slytherin household I guess. We’re not that different from any other wizarding family that are Slytherin descendants.”

Cecillia half-snorted half laughed. “Whatever helps you sleep at night. Adelaide your family is one of the richest families in the wizarding world, and the ministry of magic highly values your families for their  support in both money and talent you're not a “regular family.” 

Adelaide frowned. She didn't get how her family's lifestyle wasn't normal she figured that everyone lived in a similar way.

Cecillia grabbed one of her textbooks and began to read. Adelaide collapsed on the bed and took a deep breath. Her eyes closed and she fell asleep.

…

Luke pressed down the button to the air horn he had managed to smuggle onto school grounds as he stood in one of the rooms in Ravenclaw tower. The sound went off and he smiled to himself as he heard a loud groan flood through the room.

“Rise and shine sleepy heads,” he said as if he was talking to a baby.

“LUKE VEILTICK STOP USING YOUR SISTER TO COME AND ANTAGONIZE ME!” Cecillia screamed. Luke's smile widened.

“Oh come one it's boring back at the Gryffindor common room while everyone's asleep,” Luke said. Cecillia gave him a deadly glare. Adelaide fell back into her bed and pulled her covers over her head. 

“Is shomone shweepy?” He said in his baby voice again.

“Shut up,” Adelaide sighed defeatedly. 

Luke's eyes widened and he stared at her with a surprised expression. He glanced at Cecillia and she mouthed ‘what’ at him irritatedly.

Of course, she wouldn't notice something was off, Cecillia had only really talked to Adelaide the night before.

He looked over at Adelaide again who was still curled up underneath the covers. There was a cute, tiny sneeze and the room went silent.

“That-” Cecillia said, “was adorable!”

“Shut up,” Adelaide said again this time a bit more upbeat.

“Lukas, what are you doing here?” One of the other Ravenclaws said. Luke knew her from a quidditch practice the Gryffindor team had had to do along with Ravenclaw at the beginning of the year. It was Rosalind the keeper of their team. Rosalind had long red-brown hair, brown eyes, and pale skin. “And in the girls half of the dorm no less.” 

“Does he ever go anywhere else?” Cecillia asked.

“No, but that just makes me ask why you're friends with him even more. You're one of the most popular girls here Cecillia. Why do you hang out with a nobody like him?”

Cecillia opened her mouth and then shut it again without making eye contact with Luke. This is what always happened when he came here. Rosalind was an awful human being, Luke would try to make a joke, and he would make a fool of himself in order to distract Rosalind from talking more about Cecillia. He didn't want to put Cecillia into an awkward situation.

Luke took a deep breath and got ready to make a fool of himself again.

“He's nice and understanding do you need another reason?” Adelaide asked Rosalind as she emerged from underneath her covers.

“Cecillia is one of the most prestigious people in this school along with all of the rich wizarding families like mine. We shouldn't devote our time indulging low life common folk.”

“I'm sorry what was your name again? You're inadequate terms of speech made it hard for me to interpret your levels of stupidity.”

“You believe your levels of intelligence can show up mine. My name is Rosalind Aradell and you are?”

Adelaide snickered. “Adelaide Florence Fions, of the Fionian Eratouu Branch, and the daughter of Emera Fions.”

Rosalind’s mouth dropped and she stared at Adelaide in awe. Adelaide yawned and yanked the blankets back over her head. “Play nicely now kids.”

“Shut up Adelaide,” Cecillia said.

“I was just about to,” Adelaide replied. The room went silent. Luke looked at Rosalind who was now slightly sweating and shaking. Her family was probably worried about their social standing just as much as Adelaide’s and that made Luke feel sympathy towards her. If he was honest with himself he was envious that their parents were there. His parents were around their  houses physically but emotionally whenever he was at either of his parent's houses they were gone.

A sigh came from the sheets and Adelaide reemerged. 

“I'm getting nowhere trying to sleep,” she said, “do you two want to do anything? I'm kind of bored.”

Luke opened his mouth to reply, but an announcement ran through the common room over some spell. 

“Will Adelaide Fions, Luke Veiltick, and Cecillia Amari please report to the Headmistresses office for an assignment.”

“Well...I guess we're not going to be bored anymore.” 

Luke watched as Cecillia and Adelaide climbed out of their beds and went through the door. He began to follow them when someone grabbed the back of his shirt and stopped him dead in his tracks. It was Rosalind. 

“How did you get on Fions good side?” She asked.

“I approached her as a friend,” Luke replied. In his eyes, it was as simple as that.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so, so sorry this took so long. For some reason, I have not been feeling like editing this chapter. The main reason is that the second half then hated it so I started rewriting it but I REALLY didn't want to. So sorry this is also so short I wish I could give you a longer one but here you go for now.
> 
> Question: What is Adelaide, Luke, and Cecillia's assignment going to be?
> 
> Farewell my fellow Jedi!


	13. MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All I want for Christmas are some Kudos on archive,  
> And all I want for Christmas are some Kudos!

The spiral staircase was probably the most daunting part of Jakob’s trip. It was clear to him that Luke and the others had already arrived at the Headmistress’ office since the entrance was open. His leg was still in pain but it wasn’t as bad as it had been the day before so he had thought he could make it to her office without any help. He wasn't quite as positive anymore.

Jakob let out a sigh and slowly began to climb the steps.

When he reached the top his leg ached and he was out of breath. He discovered that it was a lot easier to climb steps with someone’s help. He hopped up a few more steps and over to the door leading to the main part of the office. The door squeaked open and he peeked inside.

“Jakob!” Cecillia cried when she saw him.

Jakob nodded at her, Luke, and Adelaide and then to the Headmistress. He moved into the room. Luke climbed out of his chair and offered it to Jakob. He accepted the offer happily and eased into the chair.

The office was the same as Jakob had remembered it on his first visit. Not one of his best memories, mainly because of the amount of anxiety he had been dealing with at the time, but it was one of his better ones. The sorting hat sat on one of the Headmistress’ several bookcases, the sword of Gryffindor sat in its glass case directly behind her, and the last time turner was tucked behind several books. Luke and the others had most likely not noticed it except Adelaide may have. If Jakob had to bet one of them had noticed he would put his money on Adelaide. Not that he really had any money left from his monthly allowance since Christmas was the next day.

As for the rest of the office, it was pretty dull. Books lined her shelves and the ones that didn’t fit were placed on top of the others. The Headmistress had a few different gadgets hidden around the room and Jakob found it amusing to try and find all of them.

“Now that all of you are here I’ll begin.” Headmistress McGonagall said. “Even though they're not in any danger at the moment the Slytherin’s condition may take a turn for the worst. As of now, they’re showing no signs of recovery. If this was a normal situation Hogwarts would have been shut down. However, because so many lives are at stake the ministry has let us stay in commission as long as we can figure out, and deal with, whatever is going on by the end of the school year. I would like the four of you to lead any operations and resource gathering that take place in this matter. From my experience, mainly from when Mr. Potter and his friends were at Hogwarts, no matter what I say you’ll act anyway. It’s much safer if I grant you the help you need.”

“Excuse me, Headmistress,” Cecillia said, “but I was assuming we’d be receiving a punishment for acting on our own.” Luke turned and looked at her in disbelief. Jakob assumed he was angry she had brought that fact up. 

“Because of the gravity of our situation, we don’t have time to worry about that. If you feel like you need to be punished consider what I just told you as such. Getting back to what I was saying, when you’re searching for information we will have to stick inside of Hogwarts for now since we’ve run into a slight issue.” She pointed to the window where Jakob could see white dust falling from the sky.

“The snow is late!” Adelaide hissed.

Jakob stared at her. “She was grumbling about it all the way here,” Luke told him.

“Snow is the second best thing to colorful leaves from the fall,” Adelaide said. “I’m fine with a small break in between the leaves and the snow, but when all the leaves have died two months before the snow, that is unacceptable.”

“And I thought Cecillia was melodramatic,” Jakob said exasperatedly.

“Excuse me,” Cecillia said, “I am far more dramatic than she will ever be. After all, my middle name is-” 

“Cecillia Overdramatic Amari,” Luke quoted as he rolled his eyes. Jakob felt the same way. That line was starting to get really old.

“With all the snow it will be difficult to conduct any searches until spring. So you’ll need to make with what we have inside.” Headmistress McGonagall said. “If you need to go anywhere please have a teacher escort you there. Your still students and it’s a teacher's job to protect the students.”

Adelaide nodded on behalf of them.

“Um,” Jakob started, “for the time being what should I be doing?”

“Focus on healing.” The Headmistress said. “However I can’t imagine you will be in the hospital much longer.” Jakob nodded. “You’re dismissed.”

Jakob rose from his seat, went over to the doorway, and nearly tripped. Luke grabbed Jakob and draped one of Jakob’s arms over his shoulder and helped him out of the room.

“Thank you,” Jakob said.

“No problem,” Luke smiled. He was as joyful as ever.

“Jakob,” Adelaide said. He glanced over his shoulder at her. She stared at him and moved her mouth as if she was trying to find the right words. Luke motioned to her as if he was trying to say hurry up. “I’m really sorry.” Jakob blinked.

“Uh-I...Um,” Jakob said, “what are you apologizing for again?”

“I didn’t help you when my brothers were being idiots."

“Oh...why are you apologizing? I should be thanking you for not stepping in.” Adelaide frowned. “I hate when Cecillia and Luke step in. I’m being there, ‘errand boy’ for a reason.”

Adelaide began to laugh and smiled. Her smile was beautiful. “I’m glad you're alright,” Adelaide said, “I’m still sorry, though.”

“There’s no reason to be,” Jakob said. He dismissed the thought with a wave of his hand. “I’m going to head back to the hospital and sleep. Luke’s going to help me so you girls can do whatever you do.” Jakob waved his hand at them and Luke began to help him down the spiral staircase.

He successfully managed to get to the bottom of the steps and to the hospital, nearly killing them by tripping only twice. Luke said goodbye and Jakob closed his eyes.

…

Adelaide groaned as a familiar air horn went off in the Ravenclaw dormitory for the second day in a row.

“LUKE VEILTICK!” Cecillia yelled. There was the thumping of feet outside of the door and then silence. Cecillia climbed out of her bed and ran over to the door. “Come on Adelaide, it’s time we kill him!”

Adelaide groaned again and climbed out of her bed. Her foot caught on her sheets and she fell face first onto the wooden floor. “Ow!” Adelaide said. She climbed to her feet and tried to free her foot from the blankets but slipped and fell onto her back instead.

“My word Adelaide,” Cecillia went over and freed her foot from the sheets. “Let’s go.” They rushed out of the room and down the spiral steps to the main part of the dormitory. Adelaide ran into Cecillia who stopped at the bottom of the steps, stumbled backward, her foot slipped on the stairs, and stumbled into her. They fell onto the floor.

“My bad,” Adelaide said. She glanced up at what Cecillia had stopped to look at. There was a popping noise and confetti flew everywhere. 

“Merry Christmas!” Luke, Jakob, and Hana yelled simultaneously. 

Cecillia shoved Adelaide off of her. Adelaide stared at them as Cecillia ran over, grabbed Luke, wrapped her arm around his neck, and jumped onto his back.  “Let us sleep next time idiot.”

“Is Christmas all were here for?” Adelaide asked.

“Yeah, why?” Jakob asked as he started pulling Cecillia off of Luke.

“I’m going back to sleep,” Adelaide said as she rolled her eyes. She started climbing the steps.

“Hey, hey, hey!” Luke ran over to her after Cecillia was successfully off of him and grabbed Adelaide’s shoulder. “You can go to sleep after we open presents.”

Adelaide began to laugh and Luke took a step back. “Okay go look under that tree and show me one present that’s for me.” Luke pulled out a wrapped package from his pocket. It read, From Luke To Adelaide. “Oh.”

“What would make you think you didn’t have any presents?” Cecillia said. She almost sounded like she was laughing.

“Nothing,” Adelaide said. “I appreciate the thought Luke, but-” She glanced at him and looked at Jakob and Cecillia. “-I can’t.” She started to walk up the steps again.  Luke grabbed her hand and started dragging her back down the steps. “Hey!”

“Yes you can,” Luke said, “no matter what your family thinks no one’s here, it will be fine.”

“Fine,” Adelaide said through gritted teeth. “I didn’t get anything for any of you.” Adelaide stared at her feet.

“That’s fine, don’t worry about it,” Luke smiled. He sorted the presents into their own piles.

Adelaide hadn’t expected anything from anyone. When Luke forced her to join them she thought that she would maybe get three. Luke handed her twenty-three from himself alone.

“Yeah he went all out with me and Jakob last year so I saw this coming,” Cecillia said. 

“I like giving presents, I’m fine with getting them, but I prefer giving them instead,” Luke said.

“Last year you gave me dozens of sweatshirts,” Jakob said. An idea flashed through Adelaide’s mind.

“You didn’t even have a coat okay?” Luke said, “I had to get you something!” 

“Of course,” Adelaide said. “So it will take a while but what if I get each of you an invisibility cloak like I have?”

“That’s genius!” Luke yelled. “Recharming them will cost a bit but whatever. Where do you buy those?”

“I don’t buy them, actually,” Adelaide looked at her lap. “I made them.”

Everything went silent. She looked up at them. Jakob shrugged, Cecillia’s mouth dropped, and Luke said, “Oh, how talented are you?”

Adelaide began to blush. “It takes about two weeks to make the charming potion.”

“Where did you find a recipe?” Cecillia asked.

“She most likely came up with it,” Jakob said. Adelaide nodded. Cecillia’s mouth dropped again.

“How could you even imagine that, Jakob?” Cecillia asked.

“I’ve dealt with so much weird stuff in my life nothing fazes me anymore,” Jakob said.

“Is that our Christmas present then?” Luke asked, “A story and some information on where you're from?” Jakob looked away. “I’ll take that as a no.”

Cecillia unwrapped another present. Another makeup container? Adelaide thought she would be covered for years, but the fact that Cecillia had several more presents told Adelaide that it most likely wouldn’t cover that long.

“So,” Jakob started, “What are we planning to do about what Headmistress McGonagall said yesterday?”

“Turn the library inside out, right?” Cecillia asked Adelaide. “We're going to read until we’ve read everything?”

“I think they’ll let us into the restricted section, but they won’t let us read everything in there that’s just a fact. We’ll start with the regular section and then ask us to bring books on whatever topics come up from the restricted section.” Adelaide said.

“Let me guess,” Luke said, “this is while we’re searching the restricted section at night?”

“What on earth would make you think that?” Adelaide said sarcastically. Luke smiled. They finished opening each present and Adelaide made a plan on when she would get their sweatshirts done. 

The rest of the day passed in a flash for Adelaide. They went to breakfast, hung out in the great hall, went back to the Ravenclaw dormitory after dinner and had a party with all of Ravenclaw. Jakob left halfway through the party, but Luke stayed until the end. As Adelaide laid in bed she couldn’t remember the last time she had had so much fun or felt this...happy. Adelaide’s eyes closed and for the first time in a long time, she slept peacefully.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!!  
> So my fellow Christmas elves, this chapter ended happily, don't expect for all of these to end happily. Anyway, I hope you're having a fabulous Christmas. :)   
> So explaining, I'm not sure if you got the message but Adelaide has never had a Christmas. Her family doesn't celebrate Christmas because they think it's a waste of time. Luke sort of just put one and two together so it wasn't blatantly mentioned but OH WELL!!!! 
> 
> Guess what I want for Christmas? Kudos.  
> SO GIVE ME KUDOS!!!!!!!! ;)


	14. The Hogwart's Letter That was Never Answered

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yello! Goodbye crappy 2016, hello 2017!!!!!!!!

Luke discovered three things over the course of New Year's Eve night. One, Adelaide  _ hates _ coconut with a burning passion, two,  _ never _ invite Cecillia’s boyfriend to a party, and three, you  _ never _ want to tell Cecillia and Adelaide’s mothers, “no.”

He experienced Adelaide’s hate for coconut during a game everyone in the Ravenclaw’s party decided to play. Hana, of course, had snuck himself and Jakob into the Ravenclaw dormitory because she wanted to hang out with Luke. He was very grateful for her gesture of kindness. The game included one person being blindfolded, fed a food of the party members choice, and trying to guess what it was.

When Adelaide was told the game’s rules she tried to sneak up the steps back to the room she was staying in. Cecillia had caught her and, naturally, because of Adelaide’s discretion, they decided she’d be the first to be blindfolded. 

They decided to give her plain coconut and her exact words when she tried it was, “it tastes like a stupid ass piece of coconut.” They told her to swallow it but she spit back out instead and her expression as she tried to get rid of the taste in her mouth made everyone laugh.

Luke made a mental note to never get her anything that included coconut as a present.

Later in the night Luke ran into Cain while he was making a stupid, but funny, joke with Cecillia. The thing about Cain is somehow he got the idea into his thick skull that Luke was trying to take Cecillia away from him. So now whenever Cain showed up and he was hanging out with her, Cain tried to one up Luke and be better than him. This repetitive process was starting to  _ seriously _ piss Luke off. He didn’t remember how many times he had tried to convince Cain that he was  _ NOT _ interested.

Ten minutes after they stopped playing the food game Luke was in the middle of telling his terrible jokes, Cain showed up and challenged Luke to a duel for no reason what so ever. Luke laughed at first and said Cain had probably had too much butterbeer or something. Cain kept glaring at Luke until he caught on that Cain was dead serious.

Luke turned down the duel as he rolled his eyes.

“I’m not going to tolerate you harassing my girlfriend  _ Veiltick _ ,” Cain said disgustedly. “So you  _ are _ going to accept my challenge.”

“First of all,  _ Cain _ , I’m being a dork, that’s my job,” Luke said as if he was talking to a toddler. “Secondly, everything you think is going on between us isn’t happening, and thirdly, before Cecillia was officially your girlfriend she was my friend. If I want to be an annoying dork, I sure as hell will. If she gets to annoyed with me, she punches me in my ribs. It’s a compromise that has been standing for a year and a half. Cecillia is not a damsel in distress who needs  _ you  _ to come save her.”

“Well-” Cain began.

“He’s right Cain,” Cecillia interrupted. “I appreciate you worrying about me Cain, but if he gets too annoying I’ll sucker punch him in his rib cage. So there’s not need to worry.”

“I’m not sure whether I should be happy you're agreeing with me or worried,” Luke said.

Cain bit his lip and Cecillia turned away from them. Not even a moment later Cain whipped out his wand and yelled, “Petrificus Totalus!” Luke's arms raised to cover his face instinctively.

“Protego Maxima! Expelliarmus!”

Cain’s wand flew out of his hand and his attention refocused to the girl who was now pointing a wand at his throat.

“And you claim Luke’s childish.” A voice sighed. Luke lowered his arms. Adelaide.

“Who the hell are you?” Cain ordered.

“Be more respectful Cain Durasher!” Rosalind said out of nowhere. She shoved Cain away from Adelaide, she placed one hand on her chest and motioned her other hand in Adelaide’s direction. “This is Adelaide Florence Fions, of the Fionian Euratouu Branch, and daughter of Emera Fions. Show some respect!”

Adelaide quirked an eyebrow. “I don’t remember ever asking for respect-”

“Her family is one of the most respected-”

“Rosalind,”

“-And reliable wizarding families-”

“Rosalind.”

“-Even the minister of magic has to bend under their will at times-”

“Rosalind!”

“-That’s what we call true power and strength-” Adelaide kicked the back of Rosalind’s knee and Rosalind’s leg buckled. “What was that for?” Rosalind whined.

“Please refrain from giving out my name and social status to anyone I have not granted you permission to,” Adelaide said as she shook her head at Rosalind in disbelief. She looked so done with Rosalind.

“Whatever you wish Madam Fions,” Rosalind curtsied. Luke swore that if they had been in a cartoon one of Adelaide’s eyes would have twitched uncontrollably.

“Please don’t ever call me Madam Fions, or curtsy for me again.”

“I understand Miss Adelaide,” Rosalind saluted. Adelaide blinked a few times. It was quite obvious that Rosalind did not understand.

“I don’t care who the hell you are, _ Slytherin _ ,” Cain said, “You have no business interfering with this fight.”

“I may not understand the reasons behind you stupidly challenging Luke but I do know that he declined your challenge,” Adelaide said.

“And? What’s your point?”

“ _ The Official Guide to Duels _ , clearly states,  _ if a duel is declined neither parties may proceed to draw their wand offensively on the other. If one party does initiate conflict after the decline meant it can be considered as physical assault and as a result, may be accused as a crime. If this offense was serious the party at fault may be charged up to a million galleons and/or spend a year in prison. If it was a true and very serious crime their year may be spent in Azkaban prison _ .” Cecillia tensed. “If I wished I could get you into three months or more, of detention with professor Yail.” Adelaide paused to watch the effect of what she just said dawn on Cain’s face. “ _ That’s  _ my point.”

“Would the two of you like to step out of the room for a fresh breath of air that is not polluted with stupidity Sir Veiltick and Madam Fions?” Jakob asked Adelaide and Luke sweetly.

“I believe we would Sir Nine,” Luke replied.

“I would like to as well,” Cecillia said.

“Very well Madam Amari,” Adelaide said. The room went silent as they climbed through the Ravenclaw dormitories portrait hole and into the staircase outside. The four of them began to laugh.

“No offense, Cecillia, but your boyfriend is a  _ jerk _ ,” Adelaide said once their laughter had stopped.

“No kidding,” Cecillia sighed. “I wish I didn’t have to date him.”

“Why do you have to?” Luke asked. Despite knowing Cecillia for longer than a year she had never mentioned that she  _ had  _ to date Cain. Her eyes fell to the ground.

“So Jakob and Luke know this but Adelaide doesn’t so I’ll make this as short as possible,” Cecillia said, “My mother is a model in the muggle world because she is a muggle. My dad is a wizard, but a few years ago he was accused of committing a crime he didn’t commit and was put in prison.”

“What did they accuse him of?” Adelaide asked.

“Murdering thirty muggles and being one of the last remaining followers of he-who-shall-not-be-named. I don’t know whether he actually followed you-know-who, but I know he’s not the type of person who would. Also when the muggles were killed my mother, father, and I were flying back from a family vacation in the United States. Despite all of that evidence, the real murderer got away and my dad was placed in Azkaban prison. When that happened my mother fell apart. She blames my father even though it obviously wasn’t him. I even know who really did it and she still doesn’t believe me!”

“Who did it?”

“The judge of my dad’s trial,” Cecillia said. “I can’t prove that though because it’s my word against his so no one would believe me, and I can’t find enough evidence because he created so much fake evidence.”

“That...is an issue.”

“I know right! Because of what my mother believes my dad did she doesn’t trust me to make my own decisions when it comes to significant others. So as a result,” Cecillia pulled a small box out of her pocket. She lifted the lid to reveal a diamond ring. “My mother arranged my own marriage and guess who it’s with? The jerk known as Cain. She set up with his family that I would marry him once I graduate from Hogwarts.”

“In a few years I’ll be in the same boat,” Adelaide said.

“Really?”

“It won’t be a completely arrange marriage, but my marriage has to benefit our family in some way so my options are very limited.”

“Can’t you two just tell you mother’s ‘No’?” Luke asked.

Adelaide and Cecillia made eye contact then looked back at him. “If you have a death wish,” Adelaide said.

“Then, yes,” Cecillia finished.

“Are the four of you going somewhere?” Professor Longbottom asked out of nowhere.

“No professor were just getting some fresher air,” Cecillia said quickly.

“Actually, professor, would you mind escorting me to the library?” Adelaide asked. Luke narrowed his eyes. What did she need to go to the library for? “There are a few things I want to look up.”

Professor Longbottom nodded. Adelaide said goodbye and follow the Professor to the library.

“Well…” Luke said after a few minutes, “Want to go back to the party?”

“Sure why not?” Cecillia said.

The three of them went back into the Ravenclaw dormitory. Once the party came to a close, due to a request Luke had made before the party, one of their professors showed up and escorted both him and Jakob back to their respective dormitories.

Luke said the password and entered Gryffindor tower. The dormitory was a mess and people were still partying. He joined in and once ended he was exhausted. As soon as his head hit his pillow he was out cold.

 

~

 

_ Luke? _ A child’s voice rang in his head. _ Luke? Big brother? Where did you go? Why is everything so dark? I’m scared big brother. What’s happening? Where did you go? I can’t see anything, I can’t feel anything, everything’s so cold and I’m scared. Big brother! _

Suddenly Luke was in a field crying. He was holding something and his hands were covered in blood. A figure was on the ground bleeding out, but for some reason, he couldn’t remember who it was supposed to be.  _ Big brother!  _

 

~

 

Luke’s eyes flew open. This happened a lot, his dreams, no, his memories would try to haunt him, but for some reason, he was never scared, he never felt any regret towards that night. He never felt sad. He never felt worried. He only felt his sister as she trembled in his arms. She was still scared from that night, he wasn’t. She was still worried, he wasn’t. She was still sad, he wasn’t. Every emotion he wished he felt she seemed to, but he didn’t. Maybe not being able to feel was a punishment, but he didn’t care. As long as Hana still felt those things he was willing to feel inhuman. As long as he could see Hana smile again he would repeat that night as many times as he needed to.

 

…

 

There was a boy with short, light brown hair. A boy with pale skin, rich, chocolate brown eyes, and a sweet smile. A boy who loved the world and everything in it. A boy whose life had been cut short by her hands. 

Every time Adelaide wished for a quiet, pleasant, dream, this dream always rose. It was most likely her punishment for killing him, after all, it’s what she deserved. 

She was standing in the middle of the same muggle street, with the same colorful houses that used to be there, and there was that boy, smiling sweetly like always, ready to take Adelaide’s hand and run far away. To run to the empty field beyond the trees where they could pretend all of their problems didn’t exist.

Adelaide reached out to take his hand when her mother stepped between them. Her mother’s wand was trained on the young boy. Adelaide’s heart froze. She remembered her mother had told her something, but she couldn’t remember what. Her mother’s wand was placed into Adelaide’s hand.

Her mother mumbled words in her ear, and Adelaide repeated them as she closed her eyes. Silence. Adelaide opened her eyes to find the sweet boy lying on the ground, and the houses around them burning. The day before his death the boy had sent her letter telling her that he was happy and he had exciting news. Now the boy was lying there on the pavement. Dead.

Adelaide remembered she passed out and later awoke only to find out what the boy had been so excited about.

The night before his death, the muggle-born had received his Hogwarts letter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So...I was planning to end this chapter happy, but that didn't really happen...at all. You know, I feel that a lot of the time I want this to be a happy fic, but that doesn't happen so I'm just like, "oh well!¯\\_(ツ)_/¯" I'm hoping to have more of a strict posting schedule for the new year like I'll post every Friday or Saturday, and if you get a chapter earlier oh well at least you got one that week. Because I've been posting like, two days in a row, three weeks later, every other week, every week, and so on so forth. So expect Saturday or Friday. Then again New Year's Resolutions normally fail within the first few weeks if not days, sooooooo. NO PROMISES :)
> 
> Also, I changed Jakob's last name because it made more sense for his past if his last name was, nine, and not brown, so yeah.
> 
> Also, Also, My Christmas was full of just Harry Potter stuff from my grandmother (I am such a nerd!!!!)
> 
> Also, also, also, my young pups ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ, if you have any recommendations, rants, you found an issue, feedback, etc. Go ahead and post comments, I LOVE COMMENTS!!! (And leave me Kudos if you haven't already, please! :) 
> 
> Also, also, also, also, if you're a fan of Voltron (like me) Sir_Uniwhale has some great fanfics so check the out! (づ￣ ³￣)づ
> 
> At this point I'm just listing anything I can think of ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) so I'm going to stop wasting your time. (Can you tell I just figured out how to use the faces?) Okay, now I'm really going to let you go. Bye, I'll see you next chapter. Fair well. Leave Kudos. Ado, leave a comment, maybe, whatever you feel like. Aaaaaaand, bye.


	15. The First Flame of Rebellion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Have fun!

Adelaide shot straight up in bed and toppled over onto the floor. She stared up at the ceiling panting and drenched in her own sweat. She peeked above her bed and glanced around the room. Everyone was still asleep.

Adelaide let out a sigh of relief.  She shakily climbed to her feet and moved to the door. She slipped out of the room and into the stairwell. She descended the steps and to the middle of the common room. She moved to the chair closest to the fireplace. She pulled a blanket over her legs and pulled her knees to her chest as she stared at the charred wood that was still slightly glowing from the heat.

Adelaide played the dream over and over in her head. The dream wasn't exactly how she remembered the memory but it was close enough for her to remember every detail of what happened that day.

_Adelaide! Let's go, let's run far away from here. Let's run away from our parents, from our siblings, and from the lives the have set up for us._

At the time the idea had seemed so perfect. They would run to the field that was close to their town, then to the next town. They would keep running and never stop. They would go where no one would ever find them. Nothing would go wrong.

Looking back on it now Adelaide could see how foolish they had been and she couldn't help but laugh at their ignorance. A life without the expectations of her family and the wizarding world was a dream and nothing more.

The wood in the fireplace suddenly caught fire and Adelaide jumped.

“What're you doing up so late miss?” A small voice asked. Adelaide glanced to the side of the fireplace where a small house-elf was standing. “You ‘ought to be asleep doncha think?” What accent was she hearing? Irish? Southern? What was it?

“Bad dream?” The elf asked. Adelaide's eyes widened. How did he know? He looked her up and down. “Thought so.” He was reading her body language! Adelaide narrowed and eliminated all signs of emotion from her body language.

“That was a good action though now ‘cause you weren't on guard before I know you're nervous.”

“What are you doing here?”

“I'm checkin’ on you miss, lots o’ bad things are happenin’ here, lots indeed.”

“Who sent you.”

“N’one miss, I came here on my own accord. A bunch o’ us house elves decided to try and protect any students who might be in danger. Since you're out o’ bed I wan’ed to make sure you were alright.”

“I'm _fine_.”

“If you're sure miss.” He bowed and started heading towards the door. “Oh!” He rushed back to her and handed her a letter. “That’ll be all miss. The fire should keep goin’ for an hour.” He bowed again and ran through a small, secret door that probably led to the kitchens.

Adelaide twirled the letter in her hands a bit before looking at who it was addressed to. _Adelaide_ , the envelope read in her mother's handwriting.

Adelaide swallowed. Most of the time she knew what her mother was writing to her about, but with everything that had been going on and everything she didn't want her mother to know, Adelaide had _no_ clue what the contents of the letter were.

She opened the envelope, pulled out the letter and began to read:

_Dear Adelaide, I have realized that Hogwarts is on the verge of collapse as it was when Potter was in his second year. Unlike many of the families attending Hogwarts, I will not be pulling you out of your education. You can protect yourself. I am aware that Dax is missing, but I'm positive he is fine. I heard classes will be resuming shortly just in a stricter system. I expect your grades will stay the same. No matter what happens your studies are your top priority. Do not get distracted by anything or anyone else._

_~Emera Fions_

Adelaide read through the words a few more times to make sure there wasn't anything she was supposed to catch.

“Adelaide?” Cecillia asked from the bottom of the steps. Adelaide shoved the letter into the pocket of her pajamas before making eye contact with Cecillia.

“Yeah?” Adelaide asked.

“Are you alright? What are you doing down here?” She asked.

“I'm fine, I just couldn't fall asleep. I thought it might help if I moved around for a bit.” Adelaide lied easily. “I'll be back up soon.” Cecillia nodded and took that as her queue to leave.

Adelaide stood up once Cecillia was gone and pulled the letter back out. She looked back and forth between the letter and the fire. She tossed the piece of paper into the flames and watched as they devoured the letter. It disappeared completely and she climbed the steps back to the bedroom never once looking back at the fireplace.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That was a small chapter sorry! (⇀‸↼‶) At least I'm still on schedule! Hopefully, the next one will be longer and will have more action...I hope.  
> That's all I really have to say except I do have a question for you guys to think about:  
> Who was that house elf and did he actually show up to check on Adelaide?
> 
> (づ￣ ³￣)づ BYE!!!


	16. A Connection Between Wizards and Magic

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A chapter WEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

“Remember a Mandrake’s scream can make a wizard or witch deaf if they are fully exposed to it for ten minutes,” Professor Longbottom lectured in class. It had been nearly five months since the New Year had begun and Adelaide wasn’t getting any closer to figuring out what had happened to her fellow Slytherins. She had pulled so many all-nighters in the library with Cecillia, Luke, Jakob, and their supervisor that she had lost count, but they hadn’t found anything. Headmistress McGonagall had already permitted them to search a quarter of the restricted section, and yet their searches were still fruitless. 

Despite being thoroughly exhausted every morning, she was trying to keep her grades the same the same as they had always been, but it was becoming increasingly difficult since studying and sleep deprivation did not mix well.

What shocked Adelaide the most was how fast Jakob had thrown in the towel. About three months ago they had been in the library, for what felt like the hundredth time. Their search was the same as always when Jakob threw a book against the wall and yelled that he gave up.

“Come on Jakob were going to find something I can feel it,” Cecillia had said sweetly.

“Okay say by some miracle we find what we’re looking for, which I’m not even sure what that is, by the way, what then? It’s not like a cure is going to appear in front of us once we figure out what’s been going on,” Jakob said.

“At least we’ll have some sort of information. Headmistress McGonagall might be able to figure what to do from there,” Cecillia said.

Jakob shook his head. “This is useless Cecillia, what are four second years supposed to do about this? I’m barely passing Defense Against the Dark Arts, You're barely passing Herbology and don’t think I haven’t noticed, Adelaide is barely passing muggle studies-”

“That’s only because I don’t see the rhyme or reason behind what they think or do.” Adelaide defended.

“For the final time, Adelaide muggles  _ do not _ have magic!” Luke groaned, they had had this conversation a dozen times already.

“I’m aware of that Luke, but why do they use strange devices called phones or emails to get in touch? Can’t they just use an owl? Any muggle should be able to learn how to use an owl.” Luke groaned again.

“They  _ don’t  _ use owls, and  _ besides _ texting is ten times faster than sending an owl for every little thing.”

“-and Luke is barely passing any of his classes! We're an incidental group of people who are quite opposite in personalities. Also don’t try to contradict me, because you and Adelaide always seem seconds away from having an argument-” Cecillia glared at him, “- _ fine _ , the two of you are always second away from having  _ an educated debate _ , which seems more like a spat between children than anything. What on earth are we supposed to do?” Jakob continued.

“So it’s better to give up even though _hundreds_ _of lives_ are on the line and by _some miracle_ , no one else has fallen victim even though we’re wide open. It’s just better to give up?” Cecillia said angrily.

“Hundreds of lives are on the line every day in other countries so why aren’t you helping them to Misses  _ hero _ ?” Jakob mocked, “Dying is part of the pattern known as life if all of these people die then so what? Death is inevitable anyway.”

“Then why don’t you join them and die? Since you know  _ so much _ about death and the meaning of life, why don’t you go die? It seems to fit your  _ opposite personality _ perfectly!”

Jakob shook his head. “You’re unbelievable,” he glanced over to Adelaide and Luke, “I’m guessing you’re staying here too?” They nodded. Jakob rolled his eyes. “Have fun.” And with that, he had left.

Adelaide, Luke, and Cecillia hadn’t talked to him since.

“Because of their scream we’re going to wear earmuffs like always,” The Professor passed around ear muffs. “Is everyone ready?” He didn’t wait for a response. “Good! Grasp your Mandrake firmly and then-” He pulled his Mandrake out of its pot and the scream rang through the greenhouse. Adelaide pushed down her earmuffs to try and mask the sound more. How come the earmuffs never seemed to help?

Professor Longbottom placed the Mandrake, into the next pot and sprinkled dirt on top of it. “After you replant it this time you’ll only have to wait another week before it’s fully grown. Start whenever you’re ready.”

Adelaide was the first to pull out her Mandrake. It seemed three times as heavy as it had been the first few times and she nearly toppled over. She quickly replanted it and everyone followed her example.

Once Adelaide finished she looked over to Cecillia who finish a few seconds after her.

After Jakob had stormed off that day in the library Cecillia had done everything she could possibly think of to get her grade up in herbology. If Adelaide had to decide what Jakob was the best at doing it would definitely be supplying motivation. Even Luke had seemed to be putting in an extra effort, in everything but muggle studies since he had a perfect score in that class. Adelaide, on the other hand, didn’t really care what her grade was in that class and her mother didn’t really care either, the one person who kept pushing her to do better was Luke, which ended up in them arguing about whether or not muggles should be using owls too and an assortment of similar topics.

The clock tower chimed signaling the end of class and Adelaide watched as Jakob booked it for the exit so he wouldn’t have to talk to us. Adelaide remembered when she had been trying to avoid this little group, eventually Luke would get under Jakob’s skin enough that he would just stop trying to run. Apparently, he had a longer tolerance then Adelaide, however, since he had been keeping this up for nearly three months, so there was that to factor in.

“LUNCH HERE I COME!” Luke screamed. He ran for the door, Cecillia grabbed Adelaide, and they took off after him. He slowed down around the courtyard so the two of them could catch up. The three of them the walked towards the great hall slowly this time.

“So what class do you have after lunch today Adelaide?” Cecillia asked.

“Advanced Magical Theory,” Adelaide replied. “It’s so boring I feel like ripping my eyes out of my sockets every time I enter the classroom.”

“Regular Magical Theory is so tough, though!” Luke said exasperatedly. Adelaide quirked an eyebrow. “You’re a Fions, right, I forgot.”

“What do the two of you have after lunch today?” Adelaide asked.

Luke smiled widely. “Astronomy!” He said.

“I’ve never heard you excited for a class before,” Adelaide said.

“I am a space kid through and through,” Luke said proudly.

“Yeah you were saying that there are lions in space a while ago,” Adelaide said as she rolled her eyes.

“That was a tv show and quite frankly it would be awesome if it were true!”

“What about you Cecillia?” Adelaide asked to avoid the conversation lasting longer.

“Charms, there’s not a lot to say about it.” She shrugged.

Adelaide nodded as they arrived at the entrance to the great hall. They went their separate ways and Luke yelled, “See you in potions!”

Adelaide navigated to the Slytherins table and climbed onto the bench next to Nit. They didn’t speak as Adelaide pulled out a paper that was due the next day and began to write as she ate. Nit finished eating first and rose from his seat.

“Just a word of advice from your older brother,” He said as he turned to leave, “Moms not an idiot she  _ will _ piece one and two together eventually if she hasn’t already. Part ways with the three of them before she tries to do something or you know what is going to happen again.”

“I’ve already thought through ever inevitable outcome Nitesh,” Adelaide said without looking up from her paper.

“Then why are you still with them?”

“Because I’m being the friend they want me to be. Besides even if I try to get rid of them they would never let me leave, they’re just that clingy. Mainly Luke would never allow it, though.”

“That’s not a good reason Adelaide!” His voice started to fill with panic. “Last time you lost a friend you completely shut down for-I don’t even know how long!”

“I was only  _ slightly _ disoriented for two weeks,” Adelaide turned to glare at him.

Nitesh snorted. “Slightly?  _ SLIGHTLY _ ? What did I have to do for you for two weeks? Oh, that’s right,  _ everything _ !” Adelaide rolled her eyes and refocused on her paper. “ _ Adelaide _ !”

“What does it matter?” Adelaide asked exasperatedly as she slammed her quill on the table and turned back to him.

“Hm, let's see, shall we? I covered for you by telling mom you were really busy with your classes, I told Dax you weren’t feeling well since you had extra classes with him so the excuse I used with mom wouldn’t work, which he figured out I was lying to cover for you by the way and that was  _ not _ a fun conversation, and I helped you do the basic thing such as eating and drinking. I am  _ perfectly _ fine with helping you, but it’s obvious you’re not even over you know who.”

“Don’t tell me what I’m over and what I’m not!”

“Ky,” Nit said easily. Adelaide’s went silent and looked back at the words on the paper in front of her. “See? That’s what I’m talking about-”

“Well  _ sorry _ I couldn’t stop mom from killing someone,” Adelaide hissed.

“Don’t you dare start putting the blame on-”

“I was  _ eleven _ Nitesh, what was I supposed to do?”

“What was a twelve-year-old supposed to do?” Nitesh pointed at himself.

“A whole lot more than me! You’re the older brother aren’t you supposed to be able to do more than me? Aren’t you supposed to be able to protect more? I was twelve about a year ago and I could have protected him then-”

“For the last  _ damn _ time Adelaide, I am  _ not _ you! I’m not the perfect, powerful child our mother wanted me to be.” He grabbed the top of Adelaide’s robes and pulled her towards him so their noses were only centimeters apart. “So for God sake stop comparing yourself to me!” He let go of her robes and started to storm off. 

“Nit wait!” Adelaide grabbed his wrist but he immediately ripped it out of her grasp.

“Screw off,”

“Nit!”

“ _ What _ ?” He glared at her.

“Sorry,” she mumbled. Nit huffed. “You still could have tried to help him instead of freezing up. I was only eleven so-”

“This conversation has ended,” Nit interrupted. 

“Wait-” He started walking away again. “What should I do if she tries to hurt them?” She yelled after him.

“I don’t know, you're smart, and according to mom  _ obviously _ smarter than me. You figure it out.”

“That is not fair, Nit. You know she has  _ never _ said that!”

“And, ‘Nitesh go fetch Adelaide because I need help with this family quarrel that requires high intelligence and Dax is gone,’ doesn’t indicate what she thinks  _ at all _ !” Adelaide opened her mouth and Nitesh raised an eyebrow.

“Okay fine, you win that one, but I’m far more turbulent than you. I want to try to stop her without violence.”

Nit sighed. “When mom notices she’ll start dropping little hints that she knows at first. If she decides to use violence she won’t hurt the half-blood, or the pure blood since they’re  _ true _ wizards, but I can’t vouch for the mud blood.”

“Luke  _ is _ a real wizard.”

“You’re right, but mom doesn’t see it that way. Focus on protecting the mud blood first and then worry about the other two second.” 

Adelaide shifted in her seat. She didn’t like the idea of only trying to protect Luke but at the same time, when it came to their mother, Nitesh had the best advice.

Adelaide heard an explosion in the distance, a  _ big _ explosion, and the entire hall went silent. Adelaide stood up and the other students and teachers did as well. There was another explosion only this one sounded a bit closer. An uneasy silence floated throughout the room. The doors to the great hall exploded and Adelaide was blown out of her seat. Smoke rose from the doors and a big snake moved into the hall. The snake's scaly skin was brown, several black circles lined it's back, it’s eyes were glowing red, which Adelaide decided were most likely not natural, and two long fangs hung out of its mouth.

Nitesh grabbed Adelaide and pulled her underneath their table. The students began to scream and the teachers yelled at them to get under the tables. The students complied and the snake slowly began to advance through the room. Each professor started firing an abundance of spells at the snake but none of them seemed to have any effect.

“What is that?” Nitesh asked.

“A snake,” Adelaide said in a baby voice.

“I know that much Adelaide. I wanted to know what’s behind the snake.” Adelaide squinted to try and make out what her brother was talking about. Nitesh pulled a gray box with one red button in the middle of it out of his pocket.

“Is that a detonator?” Adelaide asked.

Nitesh looked at her and he seemed to be saying,  _ really _ ? He pressed the button and she fully expected there to be another explosion but there wasn’t. Nothing happened. The snake kept moving through the room towards the teachers and Adelaide’s curiosity kept rising.

“What is the button for?” She asked.

“What do you want?” A monotone voice asked from behind her. Adelaide jumped and twirled to find Jakob sitting underneath the table with them.

“Who or what is behind that snake?” Nitesh asked.

Jakob stared into the cloud of dust. “It’s a person, maybe. They’re wearing a school uniform and...A Hufflepuff crest? They’re a male and their hair is short and dark brown. They have pale skin, and they have purple eyes, wait now they’re blue, now they’re green, their eye color is constantly changing. Not only that but they look like they’re glowing that’s why I’m not sure they’re a person.”

Adelaide's eyes widened. How could he see them from so far away?

“Are they a ghost?” Nitesh asked.

Jakob shook his head, “The air around them doesn’t look the same as the air around a ghost.”

“Who or what is it then?”

“I already said  I. Don’t. _Know_ !”

And how come Nitesh knew exactly how to interact with Jakob?

Nitesh sighed. “Fine, we need to get a closer look, Adelaide stay put.”

“Why on earth would I do that?” She asked.

“Because it’s dangerous and if you get hurt on my watch both mom and Dax will  _ murder me _ !”

“Well, that’s too bad because I’m coming.”

“ _ Please _ listen to me this once.”

“Not happening.”

“We’re coming to,” Luke and Cecillia said in unison behind them.

“What are you doing here?” Nitesh asked.

“We saw Jakob move towards your table and we decided to follow.” Luke smiled.

Nitesh sighed in disbelief. “ _ Fine _ ,” he hissed, “but if anyone dies it’s their own fault.” He began to move towards the front of the table and the other four followed.

“Royal purple,” Jakob said, “the air’s color is royal purple.”

“And that’s supposed to mean what?” Nitesh asked.

“They’re not a ghost, the air around a ghost is always ice blue, which happens to be very fitting.”

“What color is the air around a normal human?”

“Depends on the person.”

“So this is just a regular person.”

“No,”

“How do you know that.”

“It’s hard to explain. I just sort of know.”

“Very helpful, Nine,  _ very helpful _ .”

Nitesh rolled his eyes and snuck underneath the Ravenclaw table. They followed.

“What are we doing?” Hana asked as she appeared suddenly beside them.

“Trying to figure out who the person in the smoke is,” Luke answered his sister.

“Cool,” Hana said.

Nitesh looked back at them exasperatedly. “How many people are we intending to let join us, because there is such a word as  _ stealth _ which half of you are incapable of doing!”

“He’s moving out of the smoke,” Jakob said. They turned their attention to the edge of the smoke where a student strode out. The person looked exactly as Jakob had described them, short, dark brown hair, pale skin, and whether you believe it or not their eye color kept changing. They were wearing a school uniform with a Hufflepuff crest.

The snake stopped moving and the Hufflepuff moved to the center of the room.

“Names are not important,” The boy said. His voice was young but still rich. “Introductions are not important, and explanations are not important. I am merely here to declare war on Hogwarts. You might be wondering how would I be able to take down an entire school of witches and wizards. I’ll show you.” He pulled out his wand and snapped it  _ in half _ ! He then raised his hand and tornados of fire appeared out of nowhere. No words had been muttered, no spells had been said, the fire had simply appeared.

“That’s not his power,” Jakob said vaguely, “I mean like that’s someone else’s power he stole it from them or is getting it from them.”

“I have started by taking out every Slytherin except a few it seems who have somehow been able to prolong the effects of my spell. Nonetheless, my spell’s effects will be brought about in two weeks. If you wish to save your  _ precious _ students find me and destroy me. Then again I happen to be one of your students as well, so, either way, multiple or one student will die and put Hogwarts out of commission. Good luck.” Fire surrounded the wizard and he disappeared along with the snake.

“What was that all about?” Luke asked. “And don’t you think that was a bit sudden and out of nowhere?”

“My god,” Everyone turned and looked at Jakob who was staring at where the boy had just been standing. 

“I want you to write up an essay with as much detail as you can manage on everything you just saw Nine,” Nitesh said. Jakob didn’t reply. “Nine! NINE!”

Jakob jumped and saluted to Nit. “Right! I’ll get it to you by noon tomorrow.” 

They climbed out from under the table and every student slowly began to do the same.

“Prefects please bring your houses to your respected dormitory  _ immediately _ .”  Headmistress McGonagall ordered. “Each house’s passwords  _ will _ change at midnight and I will notify you on what the new password is. I need to speak to four certain students in my office  _ now _ .” She glanced in Adelaide, Luke, Cecillia, Nitesh and Jakob's direction. “Let’s make it five actually. You know who you are.” 

All of the students followed their prefects to their dormitories and it took some coaxing, but Luke and Cecillia managed to persuade Hana to follow the other first year Ravenclaws.

Once all the students had left, Adelaide, Cecillia, Luke, Jakob, and Nitesh followed Headmistress McGonagall through the hallways and to her office.

“Are you okay?” Luke asked Jakob on the way up the spiral staircase. Adelaide looked over at Jakob to find him trembling. 

“I’m fine,” Jakob said quickly.

“Are you sure?” Cecillia asked.

“I’m fine,” Jakob snapped.

“You're not very convincing,” Adelaide said.

“I said,  _ I’m FINE _ !” Jakob said.

The three of them dropped the subject. They followed Headmistress McGonagall through her office and to the area with her desk. They each took a seat across from the Headmistress and waited to see what she had to say.

“Mister Veiltick, Miss Amari, Miss Fions, and Mister Nine, the four of you  _ have _ to keep a low profile.” The headmistress began, “Whoever that boy is he is  _ not _ , under  _ any _ circumstance, to be taken lightly. If a fight erupts between the professors of Hogwarts and this mystery student, the four of you  _ are not _ allowed to join the fray. That goes without saying for any student in Hogwarts, but I have a feeling the four of you are going to defy me if I don’t speak to you independently from everyone else.   
“As for you Mister Fions I would like to hear your input on that student and his power.”

“With all due respect I’m not the best person to ask in this room,” Nitesh said. “Nine would you like to tell her what you said about his power and maybe be a bit more specific.”

“I only said what I saw,” Jakob said as he stared at the ground.

“Well, what did you see Jakob?” Headmistress McGonagall said as she smiled at him. Jakob stared at her with wide eyes for a few seconds before replying.

“Um-well, the aura around the power didn’t match the air, or you could say aura, around the boy. His aura was royal purple, but the powers aura was royal blue,” Jakob explained. “The color of a persons aura  _ always _ matches the color of their magic’s aura, but his didn’t. So I can only assume that it’s not his power but someone else is supplying him a stronger power.”

“Would we merely have to find someone with a royal blue aura and we’d know it was originally their power?” The headmistress asked.

“No,” Jakob said, “It’s normal for people to have the same color aura. For instance, Adelaide’s aura is royal blue-”

“It’s what?” Adelaide asked as she looked down at herself but couldn’t see any color.

“-I also have seen dozens of other students with a royal blue aura as well, Nitesh being one of them.”

Nitesh blinked a few times and Adelaide and he exchanged looks.

“Does the entire Fions family have royal blue aura’s?” Nitesh asked Jakob out of curiosity.

Jakob shook his head, “actually the majority of the Fions family is composed of people with purple shades like Dax’ aura is Mauve. You and Adelaide are would be the odd ones out.”

“And how can you see these colors?” Luke asked. Jakob bit his lip and went silent. “Forget I asked.” Luke leaned on his hand and looked at the wall. Something told Adelaide that Luke had asked similar questions before and he had received the same response.

“So if the power isn’t his then where would he have gotten it from and how is it supplied to him?” Cecillia asked.

“I don’t know,” Jakob said.

“Is there anything else we should note, such as if there was anything off about him?” Nitesh asked.

“Yeah there is one more thing,” Jakob said. 

“And what is that?” The Headmistress asked.

“I actually know that Hufflepuff,” Jakob said, “And his aura is scarlet not royal purple.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the second week in a row I've gotten a chapter out on time! YAY ME!!!!
> 
> First things first, I'm guessing this fic is going to have somewhere between four and six more chapters, however, I'm not positive. There might be more or there might be less.  
> Second, the reason this is being posted at around 9:45 is I slept until 3 in the afternoon today because I was at a lock-in last night.  
> Third, if you find any errors or holes that are big enough to drive a truck through or small enough for an ant to walk through in this chapter (or any other chapter) please tell me in the comments.  
> Fourth, thank you, everyone, who is leaving kudos! You're making me really happy! (ᵔᴥᵔ)  
> And fifth, Question TIME!!!!!!! (Feel free to comment any ideas, only if you want to, though, don't feel like you have to, but I love your comments!)
> 
> Question:  
> What is the meaning behind Jakob saying the Hufflepuff's aura is supposed to be scarlet, not royal purple?
> 
> Bonus Question:  
> Who do you think the power really belongs to?


	17. The Idiots of our Generation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wooh~

Everyone went silent.

“Am I the only one who’s completely lost right now?” Luke asked.

“Is it possible for an aura to change color?” Headmistress McGonagall asked.

“It’s never happened before so I would say no-” Jakob said.

“But it’s not entirely impossible,” Nitesh finished. Jakob nodded.

“What would be the best reason his aura is a different color?” The Headmistress asked.

Jakob looked down at his feet. “The Imperious Curse,” He mumbled.

The Headmistress leaned into the back of her chair and started rubbing her temple. “So the student is most likely not our real issue?” Jakob nodded.

“With all due respect Headmistress,” Adelaide said, “The Imperius Curse is quite easy to nullify.”

“And the pompous side emerges,” Nit said.

“I’m just telling the truth,” Adelaide said, “I nullified the curse when you used it, Nitesh.”

“Didn’t we just go through the fact that I have the least potential out of everyone in the Fions family?”

“No, we just went through the fact that you’re not me, but I’ve also nullified the curse when Dax used it.”

“But you couldn't when mom used it.”

Adelaide bit her lip, “ _ Actually _ -”

“You’re joking, right?” Adelaide shook her head and Nitesh glared at her. “Why am I even surprised at this point?”

“You’ll be happy to know I can’t nullify the Imperius Curse without fainting, Nitesh.”

“You’re trying to redeem yourself and it’s not working. If you faint when you nullify the Imperius Curse, we’re not going to act until we’re certain whoever were up against is using it.” Nitesh said.

“It has to be the Imperius Curse doesn’t it?” Cecillia asked.

“I can think of exactly six other spells that can do the same thing as the Imperius Curse as long as their conditions are met,” Nit said. “The other spells depend on the emotions of the victim. These spells are riskier to use because if the victim's emotions change then the curse instantly breaks.”

“What emotions are these curses based off of?” The Headmistress asked.

“Normally a negative emotion like hatred, pain, sadness, etcetera,” Nit said.

“I’m still utterly lost if anyone wants to come find me,” Luke said.

Cecillia groaned and rolled her eyes. “Do you understand the color of people’s aura and their magic’s aura are the same?” Luke nodded. “Okay then do you understand how whoever we’re dealing with could have used a different spell from the Imperius Curse?” Luke shook his head. “Okay, there are different spells that you can use to control someone to do specific things as long as their hatred or any other negative emotion is directed towards that thing. In this case, that student probably has a reason to hate Hogwarts and so someone from the outside is making him attack Hogwarts by controlling him through his hatred.”

“Well, yeah, I know that,” Luke said, “I’m confused on something else. Since they’re being controlled by someone that's also where they're getting this power from right?”

“Most likely,” Jakob said.

“And the royal purple aura is the aura of the person controlling him?” Luke asked. Jakob nodded.

“What’s your point, Luke?” Cecillia groaned.

“If both of these things are true how come the aura's color of the person who’s controlling the Hufflepuff doesn’t match the aura of the magical power the Hufflepuff is using?” Luke asked. The other wizards and witches exchanged looks.

“Could it be the person controlling him and the Hufflepuff’s colors mixed?” Cecillia asked. “Blue and red make purple.”

Jakob shook his head, “Auras can’t mix.”

Everyone went silent and Adelaide desperately tried to find something in the back of her brain that could help. She was part of the great Fions family so why couldn’t she figure this out?

“No matter what the case maybe we should focus on figuring out the spell our enemy used.” Headmistress McGonagall said. “If we know the spell we know how to nullify it. The four of you will explain what is happening to Mister Fions. All five of you will then research what is the most likely curse to have been used.”

“Do I have to go with them?” Jakob asked.

“Um, YES!” Luke yelled. “We  _ need _ you, you can’t just abandon us!”

“He’s right,” Cecillia said, “You’re an important part of our group you can’t just leave!”

Jakob glanced back and forth between the two. “Fine,” He sighed. 

“Now that that’s settled,” Luke stood up, “Excuse us, Headmistress McGonagall.” The other students stood up as well and the Headmistress dismissed them.

They left her office and headed towards the library. As they walked through the halls and down the staircases Adelaide explained to her brother everything that had happened up to the point. She told him about discovering  _ Conjuring a Horcrux _ , the strange shadow that she guessed had been the snake that had entered the great hall. She told him about the library incident with her and Luke, traveling through the halls to collect Luke, Jakob, and Cecillia, and them heading to the Forbidden Forest where he knew everything that happened from then on. The other three interjected here and there to add a few details.

When they reached the library Nitesh immediately began to spout orders at them. He told them which shelves to go to and which books to grab. At first, they scrambled about trying to find what he had just yelled at them until they found a few books and everything became easier. 

They placed the books on the desk Nit had sat down at and Adelaide scanned the book titles. All of them could be put into two categories; Curses and Mythical Beings.

Nit grabbed the closest notepad and flipped open the closest book. He started reading and jotting down notes faster than most people Adelaide had seen could.

“What spell are you using?” Cecillia asked.

“The spell called, practice,” Nitesh said.

“You’re not using a spell?” Cecillia said bewilderedly.

“I document a lot of different events and I do a lot of jobs that include writing quickly for the Fions family so I’m used to working fast and effectively. Half of what I document is harder than taking notes, so this is easy.” Nit said.

“You should watch him take notes in advanced magical theory,” Adelaide said, “You know how fast Professor Agard talks right?” Cecillia, Luke, and Jakob nodded, “Nitesh can write down almost every sentence he says!”

“Not true,” Nitesh said, “I miss several every class,”

“Still!” Adelaide said.

“I also only write down key words from his sentences. If I wrote down every unnecessary little word that spewed forth from his mouth I’d fall behind in no time.”

“Okay fine, this is still your third year of taking his class, though,” Adelaide said.

“When you say it like that you’re making it sound like I failed his class for the past two years. I chose his class again this year because all of the other ones are boring.” Nit said.

“Wait, what year are you in?” Cecillia asked.

“My third,” Nitesh said.

“You took  _ advanced _ magical theory in your first year?” Cecilia asked. Nit nodded. “And I thought that Adelaide taking it in her second year was beyond comprehension!”

“It’s not very impressive,” Nit said.

“What is it with the Fions family thinking that going beyond normal wizard standards isn’t impressive?” Cecillia said exasperatedly.

“Well in the Fions family going beyond normal standards is expected,” Nit said, “and quite frankly I’m below most standards when it comes to magical ability. Brains account for  _ nothing _ in our family. Anyway, I narrowed the curses down to two possibilities. Time?”

“Three minutes and sixteen seconds,” Adelaide said.

Nit pierced his lip. "I should be able to do three minutes,” he said.

“Results?” Adelaide asked.

“It’s either the Moderatus Curse or Curse de Malo, which is a Spanish curse. It’s most likely the Moderatus Curse.” Nitesh said. “However I’m not one hundred percent sure. You mentioned something about a book with a brooch right?” Luke was the one to nod this time. “Can I see this brooch?”

Cecillia, Luke, and Jakob turned to Adelaide. She shifted nervously between her feet. 

“The thing is-” Adelaide began.

“You lost the book didn’t you?” Nitesh asked.

“I snuck into the Slytherin dormitory and couldn’t find it, so yeah, I lost the book.” Adelaide looked at the ground.

“Someone could have stolen it,” Luke said.

“Who would do something like that?” Cecillia asked.

“I wonder who it possibly could have been,” Luke said sarcastically. “Maybe a certain Hufflepuff student who just declared war on Hogwarts stole it.”

“Oh,” Cecillia’s cheeks turned red. “I should have realized that.”

“Can you run what we found to the headmistress, Luke?” Nitesh asked.

“Um, sure,” Luke said. He glanced over to Adelaide and she shrugged. Luke grabbed the notepad and left the library.

“Did you send Luke because he’s a mud blood?” Adelaide asked a few minutes later.

“No, he’s taller than all of you so I figured he’d move quicker,” Nit said they went silent. “Out of curiosity, have you called him a mud blood to his face?”

“Maybe,” Adelaide shrugged. “Why?”

Nit stared at his sister for a few seconds before responding. “I’m going to let you figure that out.” Nit leaned back in his chair and stared at the ceiling. 

“I’m back,” Luke said after they sat in silence for a few minutes. “The headmistress agreed with your deductions.”

“Now what do we do?” Adelaide asked.

“We wait and let professors take care of things,” Nitesh said.

“I’m not just going to sit by and watch other people take care of my mistakes,” Adelaide said.

“From what I’ve heard none of this is any of your faults,” Nit said. “All of this was going to happen no matter what, you just happened to get caught in the middle. The best thing you can do now is sit back and watch.”

“What if something bad happens and we’re not there to help Nit?” Adelaide asked. “What if somebody dies because I wasn’t there? What if something like that happens again?”

“Again?” Luke asked.

“Adelaide nothing like that is going to happen,” Nit said. Adelaide glared at him. “If it really is bothering you that much I can watch the battle and grab you if things start going down hill. However, you  _ are not _ joining the fight!”

“You just don’t care what happens to people!” Adelaide yelled. “You never have, none of you have! All the Fions family cares about is themselves you don’t care about me, Dax, mom, or anyone but yourself! I’m not going to be like all of you I  _ am _ going to help because I’m not a selfish, good for nothing, moron who only cares about themselves-”

Nit grabbed her robes and the back of his hand met her cheek. “Say that again I dare you!” Nit hissed. “I don’t care about you? Really Adelaide? Is that really something you believe?”

“Where’s your proof that it isn’t true?” Adelaide said.

Nit stared at her and shook his head. “I can’t believe you,” He said. “Proof? Why the hell would I need proof? We literally just went through this Adelaide! When Ky died I was the one who covered for you! Hell, I’m the one who introduced the two of you but I guess you forgot that too huh?”

“You...Introduced us?” 

“Yes I introduced you, I knew Ky was a wizard from the moment I met him and since you always wanted someone to hang out with I thought it would be fine with mom if you hung out with a future wizard. And yes I screwed up. I was wrong and you got hurt because of that, but-” he swallowed, “-But I’ve been doing  _ everything _ I can to make it up to you but what the hell am I supposed to do for someone who won’t accept any help? I’ve tried to help you in so many ways and now you're asking me for proof? You say you care about other people but right now I don’t see that.”

He let go of her robes and shook his head in disbelief.

“Who’s Ky?” Luke asked.

Both Nitesh and Adelaide’s eyes widened. “Forget everything you just heard,” Nit said, “because if I’m being honest I forgot the three of you were here.”

“Same,” Adelaide said.

“Well too bad, we were here, so who’s Ky?” Luke asked.

“No one,” Adelaide said in a high pitched voice.

“I really doubt that,” Luke said.

“Look, it’s no one important, so can we not talk about it?” Adelaide asked.

“No,” Luke said flatly.

“Have fun Adelaide,” Nit said. He turned around and headed towards the exit.

“You’re not going anywhere,” Adelaide said. She pointed her wand at his back and he stopped in his tracks.

“Why can’t I leave?” Nit asked.

“Because if I have to tell them you might have to tell half of the story,” Adelaide said.

“Why?” Nit asked.

“Because I’ll break into tears halfway through and I’m just going to admit it right now,” Adelaide choked. She already felt like crying and she hadn’t even said anything about Ky.

Nit walked back over to his sister and took a seat at the desk again. Adelaide took a seat next to Nit and the other three grabbed the closest chair.

“So,” Adelaide began, “Ky, was a friend of mine before I came to Hogwarts and...I killed him.” The room went completely silent.

“No you did not kill him,” Nit said. “Ky was a muggle who lived in the neighborhood next to our house. I met his family while I was running some errands for our family. I didn’t tell our mom about him but I told Adelaide and a few weeks later I brought her to meet him.”

“We hung out for a while and I learned that his family was awful,” Adelaide said. “His father would constantly drink and go out. His mother would try to stop Ky’s dad but in the end, he would just become angry and lash out at his family. Normally Ky would hide in his closet and at one point when I was hanging out at his house I had to do the same thing. Ky told me his father had nearly killed him seven times by the time he was ten.   
“One day he proposed this idea to me, I thought it was crazy at first but the more he talked about it the more I want to go through with it. The idea was we would run away from our families and go somewhere else where they couldn’t find us. At first, it seemed like a great idea even though it was just foolish of us, but when your kids in a strict environment all you can think about is being freed.” Adelaide took a deep breath.   
“The night before we were planning to leave I got a letter from him, by owl  _ Luke _ ,” Luke narrowed his eyes. “He said he had something exciting to tell me when we met up to leave, and well, my mother may have read the letter after I was done. I thought I had disposed of it in the shredder but apparently, she put it back together with a spell.   
“The next day we met up, but my mother, Dax, and Nitesh all showed up too.”

“In my defense, I did try to stop Dax but I was too terrified to try and stop our mother,” Nit said.

“When my mother showed up she asked me what was going on and why I was talking to a muggle,” Adelaide said. “Ky tried to stand up for me but ended up making everything worse. She started yelling at me and Ky stepped between the two of us and-” Adelaide stopped and pulled her knees to her chest. She felt the tears start to flow and no matter how hard she tried she couldn’t stop them.

“Our mother killed him,” Nit said. “None of us could do anything. I was able to sneak Adelaide out of the house and to his funeral. That’s where we figured out his “news” was that he had just received his Hogwarts letter.”

“My god,” Cecillia said. A tear trickled down her cheek and she turned to Adelaide.

Everything inside Adelaide hurt. Her eyes stung, her heart felt like it was torn into little pieces, and she felt like she was ready to puke. Cecillia moved across the room and wrapped her arms around Adelaide. 

“Get over here you two,” Cecillia said and she motioned to Jakob and Luke to move. Jakob instantly moved over to her but Luke hesitated. “ _ Luke _ !”

“Right sorry,” Luke said. There was no emotion in his voice and Cecillia quirked an eyebrow. 

“I’m alright,” Adelaide said after a few seconds and she pushed them away. 

“I don't think you are honey,” Cecillia said.

“I’m better than I was when this happened nearly two years ago,” Adelaide said.

“I believe that,” Cecillia said. 

“It still hurts like hell, though,” Adelaide said.

“Why didn’t you tell us sooner?” Luke asked.

“I guess,” Adelaide paused, “I was scared to. I didn’t know how you would react and I thought you might not want to be around me if you knew.”

“That’s stupid,” Luke said. “We’re not going to stop being your friends just because you couldn’t protect someone you loved.”

“I didn’t love him,” Adelaide said and she blushed.

“Yep, you’re very convincing right now,” Luke said sarcastically. Adelaide chuckled and Luke smiled.

“I’m still not going to stand to the side Nit,” Adelaide said.

Nitesh sighed. “Fine, but if mom asks I had nothing to do with this,” he said. Adelaide nodded and she turned to her friends.

“Who’s ready to go help when it’s not wanted?” Adelaide asked.

“You mean like we always do?” Luke asked. Adelaide nodded. “I’m in.”  He put his hand in the middle of them. Adelaide placed her hand on top of his. Cecillia and Jakob did the same. “Now we need a team cheer, like how we  _ knead _ bread.” Luke smile widened.

“That...was  _ horrible _ ,” Adelaide said.

“I know a cheer for you four,” Nitesh said. “The idiots of our generation.”

“Fine by me!” Luke sang. “One, two, three!”

They yelled in unison, “To the idiots of our generation!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is out late and I am so so sorry! Also, this is practically just dialogue and I'm sorry again. Hopefully, the next chapter will be more description and fights, I'm hoping I'll have a literal fight.  
> I think there is going to be two-three more chapters but I'm not sure.   
> There's not much for me to say besides giving you the question so here we are:  
> Why did Cecillia seem suspicious when Luke didn't seem to have any emotions?
> 
> Bonus Question:  
> Why did Luke seem to have no emotions?
> 
> That's all for me byeeeeeeee! (づ￣ ³￣)づ


	18. What it Takes to be Satisfied

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> YEEEE!!!

Luke and his friends left the library ready for a fight. The cheer had been idiotic, but true, and Luke was watching Cecillia and Adelaide with a smile as they broke into a conversation on strategy. Their conversation stopped abruptly when Professor Longbottom showed up. He said he was here to bring us back to their dormitories.

Luke was dropped off at Gryffindor tower first like always. When he entered the dormitory it was quiet, too quiet. There was no fire in the fireplace, the chairs were empty, and even the tables were clear of any quills someone always accidently left behind. 

Luke remembered how Adelaide had described the Slytherin common room when the Slytherins had been paralyzed.

Luke bolted up the steps and swung open the door to his room open. It banged loudly and cards flew in the air as Yin fell backward in his chair and kicked over a small card table as he fell.

“Where. Have. You. Been?” Selck, one of the beaters for the Gryffindor quidditch team, asked. Selck was tall, he had light brown hair, brown eyes, and tan skin. “You disappeared at lunch and it’s been nearly three hours since then! Where were you?”

“I was with Cecillia, Jakob, and Adelaide,” Luke said. “I know I’ve told you about them, you’ve even met Cecillia and Jakob, right? Now you just have to meet-”

“The Fions,” Yin said quietly from where he was lying on the floor. “Luke we know you okay?" He sat up. "And I know you think you know this girl, but I’m going to warn you again because we’re friends, you can’t trust a Fions or any other Slytherin for that matter. So stay away from her.”

“You know Cecillia basically told me the same thing,” Luke said, “But once she started getting to know who Adelaide really was she quickly realized she was wrong.”

Selck shook his head and sighed. “You’re not going to be able to get through to him, Yin,” He said, “You’ll understand where we’re coming from eventually Luke.”

“Let me guess, I don’t understand where you’re coming from right now because I’m a muggle born right?” Luke asked.

“No!” Yin said quickly, “It’s just-”

“I didn’t grow up in the wizarding world so I don’t understand how it works,” Luke said. Yin looked away and Selck shrugged. Luke rolled his eyes, turned on his heel, and started to leave. “I can’t tell the difference between you and who you think every Slytherin is right now.” Luke shut the door behind him. Why had he acted like he was concerned about them? He had thought they may have been paralyzed too, but now he wished they had.

Luke descended the steps back to the entrance. He pulled out his wand, muttered a quick spell, and the logs in the fireplace caught fire. He collapsed in the nearest chair and stared into the flames. Back up there he had tried to think how normal people would feel if their friends were insulted and imitated that, but for some reason, it was starting to get harder and harder to act like he had human feelings. Yes, he was human like everyone else but ever since  _ that _ night he was only able to feel a  _ very _ small hint of the emotions he used to have.

Luke wasn’t sure he wanted his feelings back. He would watch people like Adelaide cry and suffer from a loss of someone they cared about and he’d wonder if he really wanted pain like that again. Then there were the times where his friends would laugh at some stupid bread pun and he’d think he wanted to feel that joy again. He was never sure, though. After all, can someone with barely any emotions actually know what they want?

Luke shifted his thoughts to a different topic. There was no point in thinking about something he would never know the answer to. He grabbed the nearest quill and piece of parchment. He began to write:

_ Power = Royal blue _ __   
_ Hufflepuff = Royal purple or Crimson? _ _   
_ __ Conjuring a Horcrux is gone, why? What does the book have to do with all of this?

Luke thought through everything Nitesh Fions and Jakob had said several times and he also thought about the story about Harry Potter and his friends defeating you-know-who. If he was right a Horcrux was something you-know-who had used to split his soul into several pieces to survive as long as he did.

Luke started to twirl his quill in his hand. What did a Horcrux and what was happening now, have to do with anything?

“Whatcha doin’?” A small house elf said suddenly from the side of his chair.

“Hey Veren,” Luke said, “What are you doing?”

“Explorin’ like always,” Veren replied. “Ya knows, I talked to dat Slyderin girl you talked ‘bout not dat long ago.”

“Really?” Luke asked. “What did she think about you?”

“She didn’ say much, I mainly warned her ‘bout all de bad dings ‘bout ta happen,” Veren said. “She seemed pretty shaken up when I saw her dough. ‘Nd unlike you, she was star’led when I appeared out a nowhere.” Veren pouted and Luke rolled his eyes.

“Do you know why she seemed shaken up?” 

Veren shook his head. “We barely talked ‘nd she didn’ mention why.”

“That’s alright I was just curious.” Veren leaned over Luke's arm and read what he was writing about.

“Are da color auras?” Veren asked.

“Yeah, how do you know about auras?”

“Oh one of my friends is unlike any oder, he can see auras! Pretty cool huh? He told me ‘bout auras, he also told me I had a swamp green aura.”

“What was this friend of yours name?”

“Mister Nine,” Veren said.

“Thought so,” Luke mumbled. “How long have you known Jakob for Veren?”

“You know mister Nine?” Luke nodded. “Well, I knew him before ‘e came ta Hogwarts. He actually is da one who helped me come here ta work in de kitchens.”

“Really?” Luke asked. This could be his one chance to learn anything about Jakob, because unlike Cecillia, Jakob never mentioned anything about his life outside of Hogwarts. “What was it like for Jakob before he came to Hogwarts?”

Veren shook his head. “Sorry Luke, I can’ say.” Luke saw that coming, but at least he tried.

“That’s alright, I was just curious,” Luke said. Luke refocused on the words he had written in front of him. Horcrux’, Auras, Brooch, Power, and Slytherin, what did these have to do with anything? He drew a pentagon and wrote one of those words by each of the corners. Luke handed his quill to Veren. “Do whatever feels right to you with the image.”

“Alrigh’,” Veren took the quill. He drew a line to connect the words Aura, Brooch, and Power together. He then drew a separate line connecting Horcrux and Slytherin. “Dat’s what I dink.”

“What’s your reasoning?”

Veren shrugged. “Based on wha’ you wrote above Aura and Power are connected and a gut feelin’ told me Brooch is also included. Den a Horcrux is normally cast for some form o’ hatred and dere’s a lot o’ hatred towards de Slyderins.”

Of course! When Nitesh told the four of them based on what he had heard none of this was their fault, Luke had been confused. They had found the brooch and released something, is what all of them had thought and because Adelaide touched it first the Slytherins were the first to pay, but they were completely off. 

Yes, they had found the brooch and most likely started all of this, but the Slytherins being targeted had nothing to do with the brooch. Adelaide told Luke earlier in the year that every house fell under a stereotype. Hufflepuffs were the Pushovers and Slytherins were seen as the villains. As a result, Hufflepuffs were easier to target. The boy they were facing formed a hatred towards the Slytherin house and whoever was controlling him was manipulating his hatred to not just target Slytherin but all of Hogwarts. He shoved the piece of parchment in his pocket.

“Thanks, Veren,” Luke said as he stood up abruptly and Veren fell off the arm of the chair.  “Don’t tell anyone about this alright?” Veren nodded. “You were a big help.” Luke leaned down and hugged the house elf before jogging up the steps again. 

Luke threw open the door to his bedroom with a loud bang and Yin toppled over kicking the table over again.

“I need your help you two,” Luke said.

“What, what’s happening,” Yin said quickly.

“I need to use the secret passageway,” Luke asked. “It’s  _ very _ important.”

“It depends on if it’s really that important,” Selck said. “Because your levels of importance are whenever you feel like using the passageway to antagonize your friends.”

“It’s a hundred times more important than that.” Selck quirked an eyebrow. “I was one of the people who the headmistress wanted to talk to privately. Is that convincing enough?”

Yin and Selck exchanged looks. “Yep,” They said in unison. Selck motioned Luke over to his bed. Selck pulled his trunk out from underneath his bed and Yin helped him push his bed over to reveal a trapdoor. “Alohomora,” Selck said. There was a clicking sound and Selck pulled open the door. Selck handed him a piece of paper with the map he and Luke had made the year before.

Luke saluted to them, he moved to the trapdoor and climbed down a ladder to the ground below. “Lumos,” the walls, floor, and ceiling of the passageway were all stone. 

“If you come back this way knock four times,” Selck said from above. 

“Okay,” Luke said so Selck would know he heard him. The door above him closed and Luke began to travel down the passageway. It only took him a few minutes to find the exit he wanted. He pressed one of the stones on the ceiling and an opening formed in the wall. He went through the wall and began to climb steps. When he reached the top of the passageway he emerged by a badger statue. He grabbed a paw on the statue and twisted it. Another passageway opened up and he climbed through.

When Luke reached the end of that passageway he emerged in the Hufflepuff dormitory. He hid the map in his robe and continued inside. There was no one on the main level just like the Gryffindor dormitory.

Luke sat down at one of the tables and waited. Jakob normally was able to tell when someone was waiting for him. Jakob had told Luke before it was just a gut feeling but with everything else that Jakob could do Luke wasn’t so sure anymore.

“What are you doing here?” Jakob asked as he descended the steps. 

“Headed to Ravenclaw tower, are you coming?” Luke asked.

Jakob stared at him and then sighed. “I don’t know why, but whatever.” Luke smiled. They left the Hufflepuff dormitory and sprinted as fast as they could to Ravenclaw Tower. Luckily they hadn’t run into anyone on the way there. Luke stopped at the entrance to the dormitory. “You didn’t tell Hana we were coming did you?” Jakob asked. Luke pursed his lips and stared at the portrait.

“I may have forgotten about the getting in part,” Luke admitted. Jakob groaned but Luke just smiled at him. Luke moved to the portrait and said, “I’m messing with you.” He knocked on the right side of the frame seven times. The portrait swung open and Hana peaked through.

“Hello, big brother!” She said cheerily. They followed her through the portrait hole and into Ravenclaw dormitory. “Adelaide and Cecillia are up in their rooms.”

“Can you grab them for me?” Luke asked. Hana nodded and rushed up the steps.

“Why are we getting together all of a sudden?” Jakob asked. "We were literally together thirty minutes ago." Luke reached into his pocket and pulled out the piece of paper he had written the pentagon on and handed it to Jakob.

“A friend of mine connected things together,” Luke said. “If Adelaide and Cecillia ask who came up with this back me up when I say we were hanging out and you had an epiphany.”

“Why would I back you up on that?” Jakob said. “And what friend?”

“Because it was Veren,” Luke smiled at him and Jakob’s face went pale.

“What did he tell you?” Jakob said shakily.

Luke shrugged. “Nothing about you, he just said he knew you but didn’t elaborate. So don’t worry about it. However, I could tell them all about Veren if you don’t back me up.”

“You're evil,” Jakob said and Luke’s smile widened.

“What are you two doing here?” Cecillia said exasperatedly.

“We figured out more information on what’s going on that’s important,” Luke said. He explained everything he had come up with and then said it was Jakob who realized all of it.

“That makes a lot of sense,” Adelaide said. “Nice job Jakob, I didn’t even think of that.”

“Uh, y-yeah, thanks,” Jakob stuttered.

There was an explosion and an alarm spell blazed through the building. “All student are to remain in their dorms. I repeat, under no circumstances are students to leave their dorms.”

“We’re idiots right?” Adelaide asked.

“Yep,” Luke, Cecillia, and Jakob said in unison.

“Then who’s ready to leave this dormitory?” All of them raised their hand. They opened the portrait and snuck outside. They started heading towards the direction of the explosion when Adelaide suddenly turned.

“Where are you going?” Cecillia called after her.

“We have to make a quick stop first,” She yelled back. “Come on.” Cecillia glanced back at Luke and he shrugged then followed. They headed down that hallway and took a left into the girls' bathroom. When they entered the first thing Luke noticed was three sweatshirts hanging on one of the stall doors.

Adelaide pulled the sweatshirts down and threw one at each of them. Cecillia’s was dark blue with the Ravenclaw crest embroidered on the back, Jakob’s was black with the Hufflepuff house crest embroidered on the back, and Luke’s was crimson with the Gryffindor house crest embroidered on the back. 

“Pull up the hoods,” Adelaide said. They did as they were told and Adelaide smiled. “Merry late Christmas.”

“You mean these are the invisibility cloaks?” Cecillia asked.

Adelaide nodded. “Make sure you keep track of how many hours you use it for. Bring it back to me to re-charm when you only have thirty minutes to an hour left, otherwise, the charm will run out when you're least expecting it.” She pulled out one of her sweatshirts from underneath her robes, put it on, and pulled up the hood. “Let’s go.”

They rushed out of the bathroom, down the halls, and a few staircases until they reached the entrance to Hogwarts. The snake the Hufflepuff seemed to be controlling was trying to enter the castle and the professors were doing whatever they could to hold it back even though their spells weren’t having any effect.

“Where’s the Hufflepuff?” Adelaide whispered to them. Luke scanned the room but couldn’t find any trace of him.

“They might be somewhere else,” Luke said.

“There,” Cecillia pointed past the snake to the woods behind the snake. “If the Hufflepuff is controlling the snake he can’t be too far away so my guess is he’s on the edge of the woods.” The other three nodded and ran past the professors dodging and weaving around the spells. They slipped past the snake and bolted towards the woods.

“Expelliarmus!” Adelaide and someone else yelled at the same time. Adelaide’s wand flew out of her hand and the Hufflepuff boy stepped out of the woods.

“Adelaide Fions,” The boy said. “Pleasure to meet one of the most putrid Slytherins out there.” Adelaide pulled down her hood. “I know you have friends so where are they? I assume they're here somewhere ready to attack me.”

“Septimus,” Jakob pulled down his hood as well. What was he thinking? “Listen to me alright? We’re not here to hurt you unless you don’t listen to us and try to kill us that is.” Way to lay it on thick Jakob. “Stop this Septimus.”

“Oh Jakob,” Septimus said, “I don’t think that’s going to be possible. Hogwarts needs to pay.”

“Why?” Jakob said. “At least tell me that much.”

“Because they are home to stupid wizards who don’t even realize when multiple people are suffering,” Septimus said. “That entire stupid house, Slytherin, is about reigning their arrogance on others and forcing people to bow beneath them-”

“That’s not true!” Luke yelled and he pulled down his hood.

“Think what you like, but Adelaide Fions is just as guilty as any,” Septimus said. “Don’t think I haven’t noticed what she did to Jakob.”

“Yes you’re right Septimus,” Jakob said, “She’s made mistakes but who hasn’t? Normal humans make mistakes and you need to realize that. You and I have made dozens of mistakes before, so why is one mistake she’s made so unforgivable?”

“Any mistake a Slytherin’s made is unforgivable because no matter what they do they always do the same thing over and over,” Septimus said. “I’m reigning judgment on Hogwarts and everyone in it!” Septimus reached into his robes and pulled out the brooch that was inside Conjuring a Horcrux.

“Expelliarmus!” Jakob yelled and the Brooch flew out of Septimus’ hand. Septimus pointed his finger at Jakob and a blast of water hit him making him fly into a nearby tree.

“Expulso!” Cecillia yelled. Septimus moved his hand to Cecillia and reflected the curse towards her. Luke tackled Cecillia and the curse hit the ground near them. There was a small explosion that blew Luke and Cecillia back into the woods.

Luke hit the ground hard and pain rushed through his body. His vision began to swim and he felt someone pulling him up but couldn’t hear what they were saying through the ringing in his ears. 

“Luke!” He heard Cecillia yell after the ringing started to go away.

“I hear you,” Luke said and he rubbed his eyes before refocusing on what was in front of them. Adelaide had grabbed her wand and was now trying to hold back Septimus, but seemed to be failing.

A spell hit her and she tumbled backward next to them. “Are you alright?” Cecillia said worriedly.

“Maybe,” Adelaide replied. She shakily sat up. Septimus stepped in front of the three of them and raised his hand.

“You’ll be the first three to die.” He said.

“LOCOMOTOR WIBBLY!” Jakob yelled. Septimus spun around and blocked the curse.

“I was planning on sparing your life Jakob,” Septimus said. 

“You said you were judging everyone in Hogwarts, meaning you’re deciding whether they can live or die right?” Jakob asked.

“Yes,” Septimus said, “What does this matter?”

“What makes you think you have the right to decide?” Jakob asked.

“Because I have the power to decide,” Septimus said.

“It that really your reasoning?” Jakob muttered. His shoulders sagged and his eyes turned sad. “If that’s all then you're no better than Kismet.”

Septimus’ eyes widened. “I’m a hundred times better!” He screamed.

“How so?”

“I’m not playing with life!”

“What do you mean you’re not? That’s exactly what you are doing! You’re deciding whether someone has the right to live, it’s no different than playing with their life!” 

A tear rolled down Septimus’ cheek. “If I stop now,” He muttered, “I’ll disappear Jakob. I’ll DISAPPEAR LIKE EVERYONE ELSE! I’ve been feeling this way for a while now, I knew was going to disappear if I didn’t do anything, my body couldn’t hold up. So-so if I stop doing this I’m going to disappear, I’ll become another blank face who never existed! Just like Adora, Wenopa, Trey, Rokuro, and all the others. I won’t be remembered-”

Jakob grabbed Septimus and pulled him into a hug. “That’s alright,” Jakob said. “I won’t forget you or any of them.”

“And what if you disappear too?” Septimus asked.

“That’s never going to happen,” Jakob said. “And you know why.”

Septimus’ eyes stopped changing colors and they faded into a light gray. He smiled and began to glow. Septimus wrapped his arms around Jakob. Luke saw his mouth move as he whispered something to Jakob but couldn’t hear what. There was a blinding flash of light and when it dimmed down Jakob was sitting there and Septimus was gone.

Jakob held up the Conjuring a Horcrux brooch and smiled at the three of them.

“Sorry about all of this,” Jakob said. “I didn’t realize what was happening exactly until right now. This could have been avoided if I had.”

“What was that even about?” Cecillia asked. Jakob glanced at the ground. They sat in silence and no one spoke.

“Don’t push the kid,” Nitesh said out of nowhere. Jakob jumped and whipped around to see Nitesh standing behind him.

“What are you doing here?” Adelaide asked him.

“Giving you a warning,” Nitesh said, “I have a feeling something bigger is coming, not now but sometime soon. I know one of the things I’m thinking about is the fact that Dax is back. Just avoid him whenever you're hanging around your idiotic friends.”

“Why are you really here?” Adelaide asked. “Actually why did you even help us in the library earlier? It’s not like you to care about anything that’s happening around you, so what’s going on?”

Nitesh sighed. “If you must know I’m here for that brooch.” He said. “I was sent by the headmistress to bring it to her if it showed up and I was helping you because mom wanted me to help you in any way I could about anything.”

“So it was an order,” Adelaide said.

“Yep,” Nitesh said.

“I should have known,” Adelaide rolled her eyes. “Give the brooch to him Jakob, he doesn’t really care about what we do he’s only here because he was given orders.”

Jakob handed him the brooch. “See you around,” Nitesh said he turned on his heel and started running towards the castle.

“Was it really okay we gave the brooch to him Adelaide?” Cecillia asked.

She sighed. “It’s whatever, we don’t need it do we?” Cecillia shook her head. “Okay, then we can let him take it. Right now I’m exhausted and hungry.”

“Do you think the snake is still there?” Luke asked.

“I doubt it,” Adelaide said. “Septimus is gone so the snake should be too.”

“It’s around dinner time right?” Jakob asked. Adelaide nodded. “Do you think the great hall will have food?”

“I hope,” Adelaide said. The four of them started heading up to the castle. 

“I’m not going to ask  _ too _ many questions, Jakob, since there are things I’m not telling all of you as well,” Cecillia said, “but what happened to Septimus? Did he just disappear or is he-”

“He’s gone,” Jakob said, “Or you could just flat out say he’s dead. Either way works.”

“But why?”

“That’s asking too many questions,” Jakob said.

“Okay, that’s all I really wanted to know,” Cecillia said. She turned to Adelaide and Luke.

“I’m satisfied with that answer,” Adelaide said with a shrug.

“Same here, I don’t really care. As long as Jakob wants to keep it to himself that’s fine, but if you do ever want to tell us we’re here,” Luke said.

“I know,” Jakob smiled, “Thanks.” They entered the great hall and Headmistress McGonagall strode straight up to them.

“What about don’t get involved do you four not understand?” Headmistress McGonagall asked.

They exchanged looks and smiled. “Everything,” They said in unison. The Headmistress sighed and mumbled something about how they hadn’t punished Potter.

“Headmistress!” Madam Pomfrey yelled as she rushed into the great hall. “Slytherin house is awake! Not only that but Dax Fions and the few Slytherins he saved have returned.”

“Make sure all of them are alright Madam Pomfrey,” The Headmistress said. “You four should go with her as well, I want her to make sure you’re alright.” Luke, Cecillia, Adelaide, and Jakob did what they were told and followed Madam Pomfrey to the hospital wing.

When they entered all four of them noticed Dax straight away. “I-um,” Adelaide stuttered.

“Well, we don’t like you either you good for nothing Fions!” Luke yelled at Adelaide with a wink.

“I merely stated your stupidity intrigues me,” Adelaide said with a smile.

“Well your stupidity-”

“Yes?” Adelaide flipped her hair.

“You’re never going to win against one of  _ her _ kind, Luke,” Cecillia said.

“I’m glad you realize you’re beneath me Amari,” Adelaide said.

Cecillia bit her lip but she seemed to be holding back a laugh more than anything. Cecillia twirled around and flipped her hair over her shoulder dramatically before grabbing Luke and Jakob’s wrist and dragging them to the side.

Luke watched Adelaide move to her brother and dive into a conversation with him. Madam Pomfrey ran through a quick medical procedure with them and then they helped her with several small tasks here and there since there were so many people to take care of.

“Can you take these to the Headmistress’ office, Luke?” Madam Pomfrey asked, “The password is gumdrops.” She handed Luke some papers and he nodded. He moved out of the hospital wing and down a corridor towards the Headmistress’ office.

Everything was alright with him right now. As long as he had his friends it didn’t matter whether or not he could feel old emotions. Sure it was draining to always put up fake emotions, but it was fine as long as it was for the people he liked. He might even go as far as to say he cared about them to some degree.

Luke knew that there would be some hard times, but what did it matter if he had his sister, Jakob, Cecillia, and Adelaide? Adelaide. At the beginning of the year she had seemed so timid and afraid she was going to say something wrong, but now she was joking around and having fun. That’s what Luke liked doing, helping the people, who normal people would think were perfectly fine, to smile. People would think someone super popular like Cecillia was happy as she’ll ever be, or someone who’s rich like Adelaide has everything she would ever want so why wouldn’t she be happy, or someone like Jakob who always just sat in the corner so people wouldn’t think twice about him. Seeing those people smile made Luke think he was giving something to people and making a small difference. 

He wasn’t sure that this was joy, he wasn’t sure that this was hope, he wasn’t sure this was care, he only knew it was the one thing he wanted and as long as he had that he was satisfied.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HEWO!!! So you may or may not have notice that this is the second to last chapter, so there will be one more chapter after this. AGAIN THIS IS NOT THE LAST CHAPTER!!!! I was planning to have Septimus survive but,,, that didn't really happen. ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ Also I have a REALLY bad cold so if some sentences in this chapter are lacking that would be why.
> 
> Question:  
> Why did Septimus disappear?
> 
> If you don't remember you can put any predictions or answers to the question or just anything in the comments below. BYE MY FRIENDLY OCTOPUS'!!! (づ｡◕‿‿◕｡)づ


	19. New Enemies and old Friends?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Ending?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm crying after how long it took to write this so I hope you enjoy it?

The train whistled signalling its arrival at Hogwarts. The students gathered around the platform ready to leave Hogwarts for the summer. Adelaide scanned the crowd for her brothers to make sure they weren’t around before turning to her friends.

“See you guys next year?” She asked hopefully. They hadn’t talked very much lately because of exams and now that Dax was back it was becoming harder to hang out with them without raising much suspicion. She wasn’t expecting them to want to stick out another year of hiding inside the nearest classroom to dodge her brother.

“Is that even a question?” Luke said. “I’m still going to need help in transfiguration, defense against the dark arts, charms, and I could go on. I am going to need you, YOU HAVE TO HELP ME!”

“No kidding since you barely scraped by this year and next year is going to be harder,” Cecillia said. “If you don’t get at least one perfect score on an exam next year that's not Astronomy we’re not going to be having a party.”

“No fair!” Luke whined. After exams, they had had reasons to celebrate and one reason to breath easily. So Cecillia had gone to the kitchens and asked for a cake. The house elves complied and she brought back a white cake with chocolate frosting and blue letters that read: Congratulations! “That cake was really good!”

“Then get better grades next year,” Cecillia said. Luke bottom lip jutted out and he began to pout. “It’s for your own good!”

Adelaide glanced over her shoulder and spotted Nitesh standing in the crowd to tell her Dax was coming. “I’ve got to go.” She said.

“See yah next year then,” Luke winked at her. She ran towards Nitesh and Cecillia and Luke’s arguing faded into the background. 

She started to slow down as she came to a stop next to Nitesh. He nodded at her and she followed him away from her friends. She saw Dax and he nodded at her. 

The train blew its whistle again and the students began to board the train one by one. The three Fions climbed onto the train and went down the corridors until they found a compartment to stay in. Adelaide sat on one of seats and Dax and Nitesh sat down across from her. The train started to move and Adelaide stared out of the window as Hogwarts disappeared into the distance. Another year had come and gone and she still had no clue how she was supposed to convince wizards and witches that Slytherins weren’t all bad.

Before finals, Luke and she had discussed everything Adelaide was working on with Cecillia and Jakob. Cecillia said that she needed to find other Slytherins who shared the same ideals. Her, Luke, and Jakob would find other people who also shared those ideals from the other houses. 

“Excuse me, is there-” A Slytherin girl slid open the door a stopped mid-sentence. “I- sorry I didn’t realize the Fions family was in here. Please forgive me.” She bowed. The three Fions stared at her blankly. “I’ll just go.”

“Wait,” Nitesh said. She stopped shutting the door. “Do you need a compartment to stay in? The train can get really full.” He glanced at Adelaide and she shrugged before turning back to the window. “You can stay with us if you need to.”

“Um,” She stammered. She glanced at Dax and he motioned to the seat next to Adelaide. She walked into the compartment, shut the door, and after she put her trunk on the shelf above them and sat down. 

After several minutes of awkward silence, Dax spoke. “Are you a pureblood or half-blood?”

“Dax!” Nitesh said.

“It was simple curiosity,” Dax said.

“What does it matter?”

“If mom figures out we were around anyone but a pureblood she might get pissed.”

Nitesh glanced at Adelaide then leaned over to Dax and whispered something in his ear. “Fair point,” Dax said.

“I’m a pureblood,” The girl said. “My names Noemi Élodie, I’m a third year.”

“Noemi indeed,” Nitesh said with a little wink. Noemi snorted and began to laugh. Dax and Adelaide looked at Nitesh quizzically. “Is she the only one who understood what I meant?” His siblings nodded. “Noemi has a french origin and means beautiful and gentle. In shorter terms, I was being a complete nerd on purpose and flirting.”

“That makes a lot more sense,” Adelaide said.

“Anything from the trolley?” The trolley lady asked.

“Four bottled butter beer,” Nitesh said.

“I can pay for my own,” Noemi said.

Nitesh waved at her and paid. He handed one of the better beers to her. “It’s to make up for my horrible flirting. Even if it was horrible on purpose.” 

Nitesh, Dax, and Noemi jumped into some small chatter about the wizarding world, what happened this year, families, and everything beyond. Adelaide pulled out a book and became lost in another world. It was a book in a series Cecillia had lent her. She had called it this book, The Hobbit. Apparently, it was a prequel to the other three books. It was quite interesting for a muggle book. 

“I’m coming in,” A voice said from outside the door. Luke opened the door and Adelaide had to use everything inside of herself not to squeak. What was he doing here?

“I’m coming in,” A voice said from outside the door. Luke opened the door and Adelaide had to use everything inside of herself not to squeak. What was he doing? Dax instantly glared at him, Nit looked surprised more than anything, and Noemi recoiled. Dax rose to his feet and moved towards Luke. Luke’s hand went in front of himself defensively. “Before you kill me I lost a rock, paper, scissors, contest alright?” He glanced over to Noemi and Luke’s jaw dropped.

“Hello  _ Veiltick _ ,” Noemi said with disgust.

“What the hell are  _ you _ doing in here  _ Élodie _ ,” Luke said with as much disgust as she had.

“I could ask you the same thing traitor,” She said.

“How am I a traitor? We’ve never even been on the same team!” Luke asked.

“It doesn’t matter,” Noemi huffed and looked away from him.

“What do you want mudblood?” Dax asked as glared down at him.

“I need to talk to Nitesh Fions if you must know,” Luke said.

“What the hell do you want with my brother?”

“It has to do with the brooch,” Luke said. Dax’ eyes narrowed. Luke looked around Dax to Nitesh. Some sort of understanding passed between them. Nit stood up and patted Dax’ shoulder.

“Don’t worry about it,” Nit said. “He has a right to know what’s going on.” Nit left the compartment and Luke followed him down the train. 

“So what’s your connection to the mudblood?” Adelaide asked. She took a deep breath. She never really like calling Luke that but he had said it was fine as long as it was an act. She still felt bad, though.

“Quidditch,” Noemi said simply. That made sense to Adelaide. Luke always got super competitive when it came to that sport and he didn’t care how many enemies he was making in the process. 

Several minutes past before Nitesh returned. He sat down without a word and Dax stared down at him expectantly.

Nit sighed. “He just wanted to know what was going to happen to the brooch.”

“What did you tell him?” Adelaide asked.

“The truth,” Nitesh said with a shrug. “I said that Headmistress McGonagall was sending it to the Ministry of Magic for inspection. Then I told him a few things we had already found out about it. That’s about it.”

Adelaide nodded and refocused on the scenery they were passing outside. She watched as the hills rolled by and in a matter of seconds was bored out of her mind. The train ride was always  _ so _ boring! She reopened the Hobbit and began to read. Before she knew it there was an announcement that they’d be arriving shortly and if you hadn’t changed into regular muggle clothes you’d want to do that.

Adelaide pulled down her trunk, grabbed a plain white shirt, jeans, and tennis shoes, and left to go get changed. After she had made her way back to their compartment Noemi and her brothers were getting ready to leave the train.

Adelaide and her brothers said goodbye to Noemi after they had left the train and parted ways. She followed both of her brothers across the platform. She risked a glance behind her and saw Cecillia, Jakob, and Luke saying goodbye to each other.

Cecillia was wearing a nice yellow summer dress, with black leggings, black dress shoes, and a yellow bracelet. Jakob was wearing an orange t-shirt, brown slacks, and brown tennis shoes. Luke was wearing a blue t-shirt with a black sweatshirt, jeans, and black tennis shoes.

Adelaide made eye contact with Luke and he raised a hand to subtly say hi. She smiled back at him. A hand rested on Adelaide’s shoulder and she jumped. She whipped around to see her mother staring at Luke. As soon as Luke noticed her he turned around and started to speed walk away from them. Cecillia and Jakob did the same.

Her mother was wearing a white blouse, black dress pants, high-heeled black boots, and a chain around her neck with a diamond ring dangling from it.

“What were you doing making eye contact with that putrid filth?” Emera Fions asked.

Adelaide the inside of her cheek. “I- um- I was just thinking..I-uh-,” She stuttered.

“Did you hear about what was happening at Hogwarts?” Nitesh asked.

“Of course I did I do have all three of my children enrolled.” Adelaide’s mother said.

“Adelaide and the mudblood wound up working together and he was probably waving to be polite,” Nit said. “Mudbloods normally have at least have that much decency.”

“It doesn’t matter how much decency they have Nitesh,” Her mother said tightly, “Your sister needs to give her reason for communicating with him in any other way but classroom reasons. She does not need  _ you _ to step in for her.”

“Oh and I’m guessing you’re saying that me, in particular, doesn’t need to help her,” Nit said. Her mother glared at him.

“ _ Nitesh _ ,” Dax mumbled to him as a warning.

“No, Dax, I’m not going to stop because I am tired of getting the constant letters while I’m Hogwarts reminding me of how much of a failure I am,” Nit said.

“Nitesh we will have this conversation later,” Their mother said. “This isn’t relevant to the question at hand.”

“Actually,  _ it is _ ! I have a right to stand up for my little sister whether you like it or not!” Nit said. Adelaide took a deep breath as Nitesh and her mother’s eyes locked in a glare.

“That  _ mudblood _ is my friend,” Adelaide spoke up. Nitesh dropped their mother’s eye contact, looked at the ground, and bit his lip, Dax’ eyes widened and his mouth parted slightly, and their mother...looked  _ terrifying _ . She pursed her lips and turned to glare at Adelaide who instantly regretted stepping into Nitesh’s argument.

“ _ What _ ?” Her mother asked. Adelaide bit her lip. “Adelaide I’d like you to restate what you just said.” 

Adelaide took a deep breath to try and steady her breathing. “I said,” she said with a pause, “Luke, the muggle born,” another deep breath, “Is my friend-” The back of her mother’s hand collided with Adelaide’s cheek. 

“Give me one  _ good _ reason why I should send you back to Hogwarts next year with an  _ ounce _ of freedom?” Her mother hissed. “Do you realize what this will make our family look like, Adelaide? You are the prodigy of the Fions family even your older cousins, brothers, aunts, and uncles couldn’t hold a candle to your power. Once you learn to fully control and understand your power none of the branches of the Fions family will be able to defy the main branch which  _ you _ are descended from. Your children will hold up our family for the future generations. You are the  _ one _ person who can unite the divide and power struggle in our family. In order to do so you  _ do not _ get to associate yourself with filthy pieces of lowly scum or any who are not to be taken as  _ true _ wizards.”

“Luke  _ is _ a true wizard,” Adelaide said sternly and met her mother’s eyes. There was nothing but cold stone hardness in her mother’s eyes. Her mother raised her hand and Adelaide closed her eyes to brace herself for the impact.

Adelaide heard the sound of her mother’s hand meeting skin, but no pain went through Adelaide’s body. She blinked opened her eyes to see someone standing in front of her. The person in front of her opened their mouth and their jaw popped.

“You know your slaps  _ really _ hurt Misses Fions,” Luke said with a shaky voice.

“What do you want  _ mudblood _ ?” She asked.

“I don’t mind you calling me that behind my back, but would please call me “muggle born” with as much distaste as you’d like when you’re around me?” Luke asked as he bowed to her.

Adelaide’s mother took a deep breath and straightened her shoulders, “Has my daughter taught you how to act around someone of my stature muggle-born?”

Luke snorted and a smile tugged at the corner of his lip. “If she had I wouldn’t be trembling right now Misses Fions.” 

“What are you doing interfering with family affairs?” She asked, “This has  _ nothing _ to do with you.”

“With all due respect, this conversation  _ does _ have something to do with me and my friends,” Luke said glanced back at Adelaide. “You have no reason to criticize your  _ amazingly  _ skillful daughter just because she decided to indulge a petty muggle born like me.” Did Cecillia rehearse this with him before now? Because, to Adelaide, his vocabulary was  _ way _ too broad to be the normal Luke. 

“I have every reason,  _ mud blood _ ,” Her mother said mockingly.

Luke made eye contact with Adelaide’s mother and snickered. “I guess for an ass like you being a complete and utter jerk would come a natural reaction.” Adelaide’s jaw dropped. Was he not terrified of her mother? At  _ all _ ?

Emera Fions whipped out her wand and pointed it at Luke’s throat. He didn’t even flinch. Neither of them lost eye contact with the other and they glared at each other for a long time.

“Is this mudblood a  _ Gryffindor _ , Adelaide?” Her mother’s voice was even harsher and it sent a chill down Adelaide’s spine.

“I- um-” Adelaide stammered

“Hell, yeah I am, you’ve got a problem with that  _ Emera Fions _ ?” Luke said with a bite in his voice.

“How does this  _ mudblood  _ know my first name Adelaide?” Mrs. Fions asked. Adelaide stared at Luke in shock. How did he know? She didn’t recall ever telling him.

“One of our friends was  _ quite _ paranoid in protecting me from the Fions family towards the beginning of the year and was constantly researching into the Fions family bloodline,” Luke said. “It was quite annoying how concerned she was actually.” That sounded exactly like something Cecillia would do, to Adelaide.

“How many mudbloods have you made chummy with, Florence?” Mrs. Fions yelled at Adelaide. Adelaide swallowed hard. Her mother was angry alright, she only used Adelaides middle name when she was nearing the edge of not being able to control her anger. Adelaide had learned this when her mother killed Ky.

“Our friend happens to be a  _ half-blood _ , but I guess you couldn’t comprehend loving a muggle because you’re  _ far _ too astute to do that.” Luke hissed. 

Adelaide’s mother grabbed the front of Luke’s shirt, pulled him closer to her which made her wand press deeper into his neck, but Luke’s eye contact still didn’t waver.

“CRUCIO!” Her mother yelled.

“Mom  _ no _ !” Adelaide screamed. Nitesh grabbed the arm of his mother that was holding Luke, he pushed Luke away from her and into Adelaide, and toppled onto the ground. The spell missed Luke by a centimeter and hit one of the chairs nearby which made it snap in half. The people standing on platform 9¾ turned and began to gather around Adelaide and her family.

“Luke! Adelaide!” Jakob and Cecillia rushed over to where the two of them were lying on the ground.

Nitesh turned onto his back and began to sit up. His mother trained her wand on him he instantly stopped moving. 

“I want an explanation,  _ now _ , Nitesh,” She said.

“The Ministry of Magic mainly lets us do what we want, but if you hurt another wizard there are going to be consequences and-” Nitesh began.

“I am  _ perfectly _ aware of the consequences,” His mother hissed, “I have dealt with them before but I  _ refuse _ to accept a good for nothing _ mudblood _ as a wizard.”

“We don’t get to choose who are parents are,” Nitesh said.

“I feel like there is a lot more to that statement than you’re leading me to believe,” Emera said.

“Nothing passed the fact that even if Luke didn’t choose to be a muggle born and even so he  _ is _ a wizard.” Nitesh said. 

His mother sighed. “You’ve always been a muggle lover.” She said in disgust. “I thought I had gotten rid of the thought that’s always in your brain about how everyone is the same no matter your blood origin, but apparently you need more training-”

“When will I not?” Nitesh asked exasperatedly. “I don’t have any magical talented, so maybe that’s why I’m this way, you’ve told me that multiple times and I get that. You’ve already given up hope that I’ll be one of the three “Great and mighty Fions, who shall lead us out of the divided age in our family history” like you wanted all three of us to be.” One of the three what? “I don’t  _ care _ what you do to me anymore, any reason I had to stay alive and pull through best as I can on knowledge alone, is  _ gone _ . So do whatever the hell you want to me-” Nitesh rose to his feet and walked towards his mother until her wand was touching his chest. “-But don’t you  _ dare _ hurt Adelaide  _ or _ her friends.”

The two family members held eye contact for several minutes before Emera Fions lowered her wand. Jakob and Cecillia helped Adelaide and Luke to their feet and Adelaide stared at Nitesh in disbelief. 

There was silence. Emera whipped around and yelled, “Avada Kedavra!” A green light streamed from her wand and hit Luke square in the chest. Blood flew from his mouth and he flew backward into the wall.

Adelaide’s eyes widened in horror and she heard a scream from the crowd. Hana bolted towards her brother’s side. “Luke!” She screamed. Jakob bolted towards him as well. Cecillia looked at Adelaide. She couldn’t move. Cecillia grabbed Adelaide’s wrist and tried to drag her towards Luke but she wouldn’t move.

“Adelaide!” Cecillia yelled. She didn’t move.

“YOU CAN’T JUST DO THAT!” Nitesh screamed at their mother. He pushed past her towards Adelaide. Adelaide ripped her wrist out of Cecillia’s grasp. She stumbled backwards and collapsed.

Nitesh knelt next to her. “Adelaide, Adelaide!”

“She’ll be fine,” Emera Fions said. “Soon enough she’ll realize what happens when she indulges the people who have nothing to do with the good of her future.”

“So basically she shouldn’t indulge me,” Nitesh said.

“I never said-”

“Well I don’t have something to do with the good of her future because I’m the one who’s encouraged her to make friends with those who care about her! I’m the one who convince her to become friends with Ky! I’m the one who encouraged her to stand against you because you don’t give a  _ damn _ about anyone but YOURSELF!” He yelled. Tears rolled down Nitesh’s cheeks as he glared at his mother before turning back to Adelaide. “Can you hear me Adelaide?” She didn’t move. She was trembling uncontrollably and her breathing began to quicken. “Adelaide? ADELAIDE!”

Adelaide’s eyes fluttered closed and she collapsed. Her thoughts were jumbled, it felt hard to breath, and she couldn’t piece together what was going on. What did her mother yell? What had happened to Luke? Why was Nitesh calling her name? What was happening? She felt her stomach turn and her thoughts, feelings, pain, everything slipped away.

~

Cecillia’s chest felt tight and she was on the verge of tears but seeing Adelaide completely break was about to set her over the edge. The first sign that showed Cecillia something bad was about to happen was when Adelaide collapsed. It had been sudden and Adelaide hadn’t been hyperventilating long enough to pass out. The second sign was when Nitesh, muttered “shit, this is bad” underneath his breath. The third sign was the rain. 

Water began to fall from the ceiling of platform 9¾ and Nitesh began to tremble. “Run,” Nitesh said.

“What?” Cecillia asked.

Nitesh looked her directly in the eyes and she saw the fear dance in his eyes. “Grab Jakob and Luke’s sister and  _ run _ .” She blinked at him, stunned. “If you don’t want to die,  _ go _ !” Cecillia stood up and stumbled backwards. She ran over to Jakob and Hana.

“We need to go,” Cecillia said. She glanced down at Hana who was still crying.

“Why?” Jakob asked.

“I don’t know but Nitesh looks terrified.” She said. The rain suddenly stopped in the middle of the air. Cecillia looked around the room to see rain drops suspended in the air. Simultaneously the drops of water began to fly up towards the ceiling and gathered into a sphere.

“Adelaide you need to wake up!” Nitesh yelled. He began to shake her.

“What’s going on?” Dax said next to them in awe.

The rain stopped gathering and there was silence throughout the entire platform. “GET DOWN!” Nitesh screamed. The water shot out of the sphere, fast. Protego charms emerged all around the platform. A pellet skimmed Cecillia’s arm and where it hit instantly began to bleed.

When the water stopped there were holes all around the platform and then the fire and snakes emerged. Small and large snakes came through every hole, fire encircled the train, and began to spread. 

An alarm sounded on the platform and ministry officers began to direct the crowd out. “We need to go,” Jakob grabbed Cecillia and Hana’s wrist. Hana pulled her arm out of his hand.

“I’m not leaving!” She yelled. “Not until he wakes up!”

“He’s not going to wake up,” Cecillia said.

“Yes he is!” Hana yelled and tears started to roll down her cheeks again.

“Hana,” Cecillia muttered. She pulled Hana into her chest.

The snakes disappeared along with the fire. “What’s going on?” Hermione Granger, the minister of magic, emerged from the crowd. She scanned the scene before her. Cecillia and Jakob stopped moving.

“Minister,” Emera Fions said with a bow.

“Mrs. Fions,” The minister said with a smile, the words seemed to hurt her as she said them. “What’s going on?”

“Nothing you need to concern yourself with-” Emera began.

“She just killed a wizard, one of little sisters friends, as a result my little sister lost control of her power,” Nitesh said. Nitesh laid Adelaide on the ground gently and turned to face the minister. Hermione Granger turned to see Luke lying on the ground.

“I want an explanation that satisfies me Emera,” The minister said with a bite in her tone. “And it better not have been just because he’s a muggle born.”

“That is not the only reason.” Emera said.

“He’s not dead,” Hana said. The minister turned her attention to Hana.

“Hana, he’s not going to come back no matter how many times you say that,” Cecillia said. Cecillia let a tear slip down her cheek and she pulled Hana in tighter. Hana pushed Cecillia away and turned to face her brother.

“I’m dead serious,” Hana muttered. Cecillia looked at Hana quizzically. Hana’s face was completely blank of emotion and she looked almost expectant.

“Hana he’s not going to-” Cecillia choked and turned away.

“You’re taking too long!” Hana choked and whacked her brother’s chest. Luke shot straight up and gasped for air. He toppled over onto his hands and knees and began to cough up blood. He sat up onto his knees, tilted his head towards the sky, and took several deep breaths before groaning and collapsing to the ground. “You’re  _ so _ lazy.”

“Excuse me that hurt a  _ lot _ Hana,” Luke growled.

“It can’t hurt that bad,” Hana said, “Especially since this is your...Third time? Surviving that spell.”

“Second,” Luke said. He rolled his eyes, “And yes it  _ does _ hurt that badly, but you don’t have say since you’ve never been hit with it.” He shakily climbed to a sitting position and Cecillia gaped at him. “What?” He asked.

“But-what? I- HOW? You were hit with the  _ KILLING _ curse! The point of the spell is to  _ kill  _ you!” Cecillia yelled.

“I’m talented,” Luke said with a sarcastic smile. Cecillia slapped him. “I don’t need to hurt more than I already do, Cecillia!”

“TO BAD!”

“I’m confused,” Jakob said. “You were hit with the spell right?”

“Square in the chest my friend,” Luke said.

“Then how?” Jakob asked.

Luke shrugged, “I have no clue. I never have, but half the reason I kept wetting my pants while I was talking to Mrs. Fions was because I was  _ pretty _ positive I would survive if she used the killing curse.”

“Luke Veiltick it’s been a while,” The minister said.

“Hermione Granger,” Luke squeaked, “I didn’t realize you were here.”

“I figured as much,” She smiled at him.

“You know the minister of magic?” Cecillia asked.

“Sort of-ish,” Luke said with a questioning look. “Emera Fions still tried to kill me because I’m friends with her daughter, though! I mean I did insult her like three times, but she shouldn’t try to  _ kill  _ me because of the  _ truth _ !”

Emera glared at him. “You’re not helping Luke,” Cecillia muttered.

“I know,” Luke said.

“Is this true Mrs. Fions?” The minister asked.

“I had other reasons but that is one of them,” Mrs Fions said. “The other would be he was tempting my daughter to go against her family for a friendship that at the core did not benefit her in any way.”

“Tempting, makes me seem like the devil,” Luke muttered to Cecillia and Jakob, and Jakob chuckled. “You could put me on the same level as The Joker but not as the devil.” Cecillia chuckled next.

“True,” She muttered.

“The  _ Joker _ ?” Jakob asked.

“Don’t worry about it,” Cecillia whispered.

The minister sighed. “I suppose we can’t do much about that,” She said. Luke whimpered loudly.

“She tried to murder my brother!” Hana yelled.

“My apologies but there’s nothing I can do about it,” The minister apologized. How did the  _ minister  _ of  _ magic _ not have  _ anything _ they can do about it? Did the Fions family really have  _ that much _ power over the ministry?

“Do you know what’s going on Hermione-eeee, Emera Fions,” Harry Potter said.

“Hello  _ Potter _ ,” Emera said mockingly. This was  _ too _ overwhelming for Cecillia. Two famous people, she had only heard about in stories from her father, were now standing in front of her.

“What’s going on, Hermione?” Mr. Potter asked his friend. The minister of magic walked over to Adelaide and crouched next to her.

“No, you can’t arrest Emera Fions,” The minister said. Harry Potter cursed under his breath and smiled sarcastically at Emera. 

The minister of magic mumbled something to Nitesh and Nit nodded. He helped the Minister pick Adelaide up as a medical team rushed onto the scene. They set her on stretcher.

“Wait,” Luke yelled, he climbed to his feet and rushed over to Adelaide’s side. Cecillia, Jakob, and Hana followed him. “I’m going with her wherever you’re taking her.”

“We’re going too,” Cecillia said.

“You can’t-” Mr. Potter started.

“It’s fine Harry,” The minister said. “I want the medical team to make sure Luke’s alright as well.”

“I won’t allow it,” Emera said.

“To bad they’re going,” Nitesh said as he turned to face his mother. “She  _ needs _ to know Luke’s alive.”

“I guess I’m going Mrs. Fions,” Luke said with a smirk. She locked eyes with him and they glared at each other.

“Fine,” Emera said and she backed down.

Cecillia, Luke, Jakob, and Hana followed the med team out of platform 9¾, through the train station, and into the back of an ambulance outside of the building. Cecillia watched as they hooked Adelaide up to a machine and listened as her heart beated steadily. The engine of the ambulance started and Nitesh jumped into the back of the ambulance as the doors began to shut. He collapsed to his knees panting and Cecillia had a feeling he had sprinted here.

“The minister…” He said through gasps for air, “told me… I should go with you… only problem was you were really far ahead… and I am in  _ no way _ athletic.” He moved to one of the seats next to Luke and sat down. “Are you really okay?” Luke nodded. “Sorry about my mom, you know...”

“Trying to kill me?”

“Yeah that.” 

They had sat in silence for half of the ride to the hospital when Nitesh suddenly stood up. “Something's wrong,” He said. As soon as he said that Adelaide’s breathing grew to a rapid pace, a thin layer of some sort of color formed around Adelaide?

“My god her aura is  _ so _ bright,” Jakob said. “Can you guys see this?”

“You mean the royal blue around her body?” Luke asked. Jakob nodded. “Then yes, we can.”

“We’re going to start losing her!” Nitesh screamed. 

“She’s simply starting to breath faster, she’ll be fine,” one of the medics said.

“She’ll be fine when I SAY SHE WILL BE!” Nit yelled.

“Sir-” The medic began. The machine Adelaide was connected to flatlined.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, people!!! That was the ending of this fic and if you can't tell by now this is going to be a series! If you want to yell/scream at me, go ahead and do so in the comments. I wasn't sure how to end this and then the whole Adelaide flatline thing popped into my head and I was like, ( ͡°( ͡° ͜ʖ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)ʖ ͡°) ͡°). I'm horrible, I know. Also, 4,997 words, WOW! I think that's a record for me. Which meant I hated editing more than normal!
> 
> SOOOOOOOOOOO, first things first I'm going to take somewhere between a month to two months to outline the next book instead of flying in blind.  
> Secondly, also if you are a fan of Bungou Stray Dogs I'm planning to write a college AU sometime soon.  
> Thirdly, I have an art Instagram, I'm planning to put some drawings of Luke, Adelaide, Cecillia, and Jakob on there as soon as they're made, so go look up Venn_KaiAgramArts.  
> Fourthly, if outlining the next book doesn't go well...it may be more like three or four months, just saying.  
> Fifthly, If you've been here for as long as you have you probably know I DESPISE editing, so half-way through I lost all of my editing progress and I nearly threw my laptop across the room. So be happy you got this chapter late instead of not at all!!!  
> Sixly, if you're angry at me for tricking you into thinking Luke was going to die one of my tags is, (Major Character Deaths?) I'm not vouching for Adelaide though, ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)  
> Seventhly, shout out to anyone who's been with me from the beginning all of you are great and I love each and every one of you! (◕‿◕✿)  
> Lastly, QUESTION TIME:  
> What's coming next?
> 
> (I think that was the easiest question to come up with yet).


End file.
